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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 1d6f356379436e2a…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

31.0 KB Created: 2021-01-25 16:13:47 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 17e28d825096cc5ded2565e633e45c36 SHA-1: 7e549ad9df69d1421fbfda610d450e2177e77653 SHA-256: 1d6f356379436e2aab9d6d6bf62b96c5d62649ef0e13e3761193bf74fa5714f9
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment: Attachment T1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic T1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro. The document body explicitly instructs the user to 'Enable Editing' and 'Enable Content', indicating a lure to bypass security measures. The presence of the Auto_Open macro and the lure strongly suggests the intent is to execute arbitrary commands upon opening the document. The macro sheet contains references to dangerous functions like RUN, further supporting malicious intent.

Heuristics 4

  • 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.
  • 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
6acb446442472b5d1f8e1827be5d71f0fecc6996a3165f6311b6d95a3d7afbe2		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 3536 bytes

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