Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 178eadb3e7261c0f…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:38:01 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a5fa1253dc8138ced1a4eb386416747b SHA-1: 27c36ad916dc756a3d8295667be6d695280d0840 SHA-256: 178eadb3e7261c0fe13ccf971c74772eb8cc9610d9b3c71d6a5ddef5dc69b7fd
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open function, which is a critical finding. This indicates an attempt to automatically execute code upon opening the document. The presence of dangerous formula APIs further supports the malicious intent, suggesting the macros are designed to perform harmful actions.

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
e772b2bab28f385cb348813325010ef6802f4780232033b9e35c8977d74f6ee2		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6840 bytes

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