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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 1a82a02413b36d5b…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

71.0 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-06-07
MD5: 7e0e6017e2c3f649c5ad0e7083fa031d SHA-1: 6958805cbadb7cde51f9be7f13be66ae474ac893 SHA-256: 1a82a02413b36d5b96169a43547bcecb6fcb0f208542a076719f53f0f0439985
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro. This macro is configured to execute dangerous functions, including the RUN function, which is typically used to download and execute additional payloads. The extracted URLs are likely staging points for these payloads. The presence of the Auto_Open macro and the use of the RUN function strongly indicate a malicious intent to compromise the user's system.

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
5111faade6798439ce43161a25c95a0c795073df8f05008e90c40cef2fd124d6
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 7798 bytes