Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 17142429a9a6f0f6…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

37.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:39:12 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-12
MD5: 77025ea4b85279dcc5b6c620f0c5a62a SHA-1: 8366a6b125e6b4683b30de6167f73a60b3852c13 SHA-256: 17142429a9a6f0f6e6b38455b2777dfab7c89c964df0c39f042fd8b1dab10464
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding indicating automatic execution upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code, likely a second-stage payload. While the exact payload is not discernible from the provided evidence, the technique strongly points towards malicious intent.

Heuristics 3

  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    oletools recovered an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry from an Excel 4.0 macro sheet. The raw BIFF name can be tokenized or partially opaque to byte-string checks, but the recovered macro listing confirms the workbook has an XLM auto-execution entry.
  • XLM Auto_Open with dangerous formula APIs critical OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet contains an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry and dangerous XLM formula APIs that can invoke programs, write files, or transfer control without VBA.
  • Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet present medium OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet sub-stream — XLM is rarely seen in modern legitimate workbooks and was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6775 bytes
SHA-256: 838dc72024ad95b66cbd8ab8557fafa07885b57ecc7ef9b0bffa5daeb3141a3e
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  BLHkC
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!C171 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BfGcsTyOgWH len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CNXkZoIIudiN len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DPdqBZa len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eBXMlfTiX len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ExSNAsu len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - kkKTbWQ len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - kYAaisxdUpjV len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - laHIOPQmC len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LJHZPTLu len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LULCBxued len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - naxNePzI len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NGiXuxJX len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nXcUiA len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PWsvGduVpRM len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tJDaJPDbnXw len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - vMBRj len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WbsIpkbaAhaA len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YcXIPp len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zakGqWLlQwv len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZWGEfwxa len=0 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00
... (truncated)

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