Malicious Office (OOXML) / .XLSM — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 1640d4b0b19b018b…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

182.3 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: dd5e3e3647cc589c125f3f34697d6435 SHA-1: 81dd4c1386c0c2596947e02478618df96f770f6f SHA-256: 1640d4b0b19b018bd400bb40a666497c356318c581bfda7c60d970b5fdec3523
310 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros that leverage dangerous functions like REGISTER and EXEC to download a payload using URLDownloadToFileA. The macros construct a URL from multiple IP addresses and attempt to download a file, indicating an initial stage of a downloader. The use of Excel 4.0 macros and the specific download functionality points to a macro-based downloader.

Heuristics 7

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (10 sheet(s)) critical OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks.
  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OOXML_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    Workbook defines _xlnm.Auto_Open or _xlnm.Auto_Close while containing an XLM macro sheet. This is the OOXML/XLSB auto-execution shape for Excel 4.0 macros.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: FORMULA, GOTO, REGISTER, HALT critical OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet uses formula APIs that call directly into Win32 (=CALL/=EXEC/=REGISTER/=FORMULA). These are the primitives used to download payloads, write files, and start processes from an XLM macro without invoking VBA.
  • Binary XLM macro sheet with WinAPI/download strings critical OOXML_XLM_BINARY_WINAPI_STRINGS
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet is stored as BIFF12/XLSB binary data and contains Win32 download or process-execution API strings such as URLDownloadToFileA, ShellExecuteA, or CreateDirectoryA. These strings are high-signal in XLM macro sheets and catch payload-download macros that XML-formula scanners cannot parse.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.GreenEnable06210-9869360-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.GreenEnable06210-9869360-0
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 10 hidden sheet(s) — hidden sheets are commonly used to conceal macro code, staging data, or intermediate payload construction
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revision
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6

Extracted artifacts 10

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
8efd8094f7abd413303db6cd3bd761c2c5950f28478c2dbf981b14155d7123ac
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 3220 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
115d37a2938cb1eb4be3e1f7e040d86a710d0daac1aec0070cce28dd691c49a9
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet2.xml 1785 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
80e7e10992a865accecd248154f8993955ab288b63e292c3a068867b798fbb33
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet3.xml 2651 bytes
xlm_sheet_03.xml
f788ff07287f4345ebde979af2962d950f9ee51261be208600834f863e989264
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet4.xml 1730 bytes
xlm_sheet_04.xml
68030b89e6b4fa9175100e8b7d910608eca541d5ed4e2c0d66aeda37c494a807
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet5.xml 1551 bytes
xlm_sheet_05.xml
4ebc5cb27ec4f2b547e1bd53bb611ec7d1683658b8c563ab084965c604bd18ef
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet6.xml 1550 bytes
xlm_sheet_06.xml
02c5359e6c25391c9e987c378ea1fa498b510bbd77700855700c1f66d26cff91
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet7.xml 1551 bytes
xlm_sheet_07.xml
0a36b8963427a06b07b518fde39e338399acae8b0375228e5cec6bdc4a42f657
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet8.xml 1553 bytes
xlm_sheet_08.xml
98386f020be407140630c7a14a4e79f58808acc942ac53553e969d84e0686ded
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet9.xml 1551 bytes
xlm_sheet_09.xml
e01811d7a24b25854e73f639fca1d02c34e5e3943023cd0c3b52664322cf12e5
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1703 bytes