Malicious Office (OLE) / .XLS — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 184142609f4cc5ee…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

192.0 KB Created: 2020-07-01 23:17:53 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: fa4d2a3f8bbe0cb6dc01cf7435774a48 SHA-1: 54ee780829976392a563f7069f522d98891ef15d SHA-256: 184142609f4cc5eea3ec43fd76101d859a442bf7619f7c9046153947f75f77c8
280 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file is an Excel XLS document containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open function. Heuristics indicate the presence of dangerous formula APIs and environment evasion techniques within the macro. The macro is designed to prompt the user to enable content, a common lure for malware droppers. ClamAV detection further confirms its malicious nature as Xls.Dropper.Agent-8674607-0.

Heuristics 6

  • 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.
  • XLM Auto_Open environment-evasion close gate critical OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_CLOSE
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes environment checks with GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW, then shows a fake corruption/error message and closes the workbook when the host fails those checks. This is a malware sandbox-evasion pattern, even when the later payload stage is hidden behind obfuscated defined-name flow.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Dropper.Agent-8674607-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Dropper.Agent-8674607-0
  • 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.
  • 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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
687eb31de8003c5ab0809690b9d12f463217dd932e5c3007980362569408ec24		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 71573 bytes

Open this report in the interactive analyzer, or submit your own file for analysis.