Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2135e037546c487d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:43:58 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-13
MD5: 8d2b63b5f5cc3ae80feab207ef85e85c SHA-1: 6d7986871dff56d7038b2ab71ecb61732b10b223 SHA-256: 2135e037546c487d1048276322598e4d77b33b11956ad831ba7aedc7278c02a5
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 function, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN indicates an intent to execute arbitrary commands. While the specific payload is not directly visible, the Auto_Open macro is the primary execution vector.

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) 6407 bytes
SHA-256: 04d1c7ca9929d0b15e3f73a7a526ddc826f1b4b38459e6d84cd6ee00e86f3868
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     13 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  pxFJ
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - APPHbnhS len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!I178 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BBkKjdjezGKo len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bUZxAPsFNGb len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bxGqKwRexT len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CzDBcottKMi len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ezKQbylZciw len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FeTeSV len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IPKrNvNqxG len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lASMHqJ len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mlusHxBf len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MzlqlNYaUsQA len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - naeJXwENl len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NFdRwrjh len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - njJKS len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PQtSCDJ len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rIScDmdw len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uMZGX len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wCiJrznvrXH len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xiNJL len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xWIOnB 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
' 00fd     1
... (truncated)

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