AgentTesla RTF malware analysis — malicious · 144116a26c1c59ea

MALICIOUS

RTF

467.2 KB First seen: 2020-08-10

MD5: 94c3bbcb92ab66c14a6a65684ecf5638 SHA-1: 3b56346a1c2329e1dce979d191ec97beea82f601 SHA-256: 144116a26c1c59eadb0a681079b733b699bea373848c169331cc801dbda5f39f

540 Risk Score

Malware Insights

AgentTesla · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file is an RTF document that contains embedded OLE objects, specifically exploiting the Equation Editor vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882). This vulnerability allows for arbitrary code execution. The presence of a PE header in hex data and the ClamAV detection of 'Win.Trojan.AgentTesla-6749865-0' strongly indicate that this is a malicious AgentTesla trojan. The document also contains a lure to enable editing, a common tactic for macro-based malware.

Heuristics 12

Equation Editor CLSID critical CVE likely RTF_EQUATION_EDITOR

Equation Editor OLE CLSID found inside an OLE object — exploited by CVE-2017-11882 / CVE-2018-0802 / CVE-2018-0798
CVE-2017-11882 — Equation Editor FONT record overflow critical CVE likely CVE_2017_11882

Equation Editor MTEF contains an overlong FONT typeface field, the vulnerable copy primitive for CVE-2017-11882. This is stronger evidence than the Equation Editor CLSID alone because it identifies the malformed record that drives code execution in EQNEDT32.EXE.
Composite Moniker in RTF OLE object high CVE related RTF_COMPOSITE_MONIKER_RELATED

RTF contains Composite Moniker CLSID in OLE object context, but no nearby scriptlet/SCT payload was confirmed. Treat as related moniker attack-surface evidence rather than proof of CVE-2017-8570 exploitation.
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.AgentTesla-6749865-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION

ClamAV detected this file as malware: Win.Trojan.AgentTesla-6749865-0
PE header (with DOS stub) in hex data critical RTF_MZ_HEX

Hex-encoded PE (MZ + DOS stub) found inside RTF — likely an embedded executable payload
\objupdate forces OLE activation high RTF_OBJUPDATE

RTF contains \objupdate — forces automatic OLE object instantiation when the document is opened, bypassing user interaction. Almost exclusively seen in Equation Editor exploit documents.
Package object class high RTF_OBJCLASS_PACKAGE

OLE Package object — can wrap arbitrary files
Suspicious extracted artifact high EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE

One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
OLE object data medium RTF_OBJDATA

RTF contains 3 \objdata section(s) — embedded OLE objects
Embedded OLE object medium RTF_OBJEMB

RTF contains \objemb — embedded OLE object
OlePres presentation stream in RTF OLE object medium RTF_OLEPRES_STREAM

RTF contains an embedded OLE object with an OlePres presentation stream. OlePres is an OLE presentation marker and is not enough on its own to identify CVE-2025-21298.
Macro/content-enable lure medium SE_ENABLE_LURE

Document instructs the user to enable macros or editing — a common technique used by malware droppers to bypass Office macro security settings

Extracted artifacts 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

Filename	Kind	Source	Size
`objdata_00_off00000080.bin`	rtf-objdata-decoded	RTF \objdata at offset 0x80	229122 bytes
SHA-256: `8a7817b59dd05a3e110f6d021ad3d6c1c843e6b8374fc25505dc10cc5bbeaad3`
Detection ClamAV: Win.Trojan.AgentTesla-6749865-0 Obfuscation or payload: likely Carved artifact entropy is 7.94, consistent with packed or encrypted content.
`objdata_01_off0006fef0.bin`	rtf-objdata-decoded	RTF \objdata at offset 0x6FEF0	4207 bytes
SHA-256: `c8b94ae414958acf0253ab4f083193117ef1874ba721b9c7140d8f6ee079ba55`
Detection ClamAV: No threats found Obfuscation or payload: likely Static shellcode analysis recovered command string(s): cmd.exe /c%tmp%\Windowsej.exe &��D$,f-Q��%
`objdata_02_off000727b3.bin`	rtf-objdata-decoded	RTF \objdata at offset 0x727B3	3773 bytes
SHA-256: `e3859f18bb7b80ea1011cc6b273b91fda2fdb1eb4907c9da6818563662de7213`
Detection ClamAV: No threats found Obfuscation or payload: likely Static shellcode analysis recovered command string(s): cmd.exe /c%tmp%\Windowsej.exe AC

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