Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 22849b014317026f…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:43:50 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 95ea736b0eea3460416f9e24d756580f SHA-1: c3971f270a49786c9f40bf9cd1b2c7bd1bdf7e4b SHA-256: 22849b014317026f65f610a3da771d419616f9c00374be1b8798a3f08933c0a8
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The critical heuristics indicate the presence of Excel 4.0 macros with an Auto_Open defined name, which is a common technique for executing malicious code. The `RUN=0` formula API suggests the macro is designed to execute an external command or payload. While no specific URLs or hashes were extracted, the Auto_Open macro itself is the primary indicator of malicious intent.

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
23e7d4c459b65cbe21a7dc8799f5e69a510f9122c5ae7cc5f02c736456bccb82
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6389 bytes