Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 22be4623904514f3…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:45:15 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-05-22
MD5: e3bf1ca4c64950ad0627d6b371a297f3 SHA-1: 89a472c0da2b7a45255f62839162927f7c3faf7a SHA-256: 22be4623904514f3dd14b0573b3be159a951bceff8e5054c6f03b6e7da1de374
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 defined name, which is a critical finding indicating potential malicious execution. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN further supports this. The macros are likely designed to execute arbitrary code, potentially downloading and running a second-stage payload, which is a common attack vector for this type of macro-enabled document.

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) 6715 bytes
SHA-256: d753934953ed9d1adaccd2c7b1f9fc17f64271ab79ee00d5ed36e3d20c3c3c6f
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  YzXCf
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - akjwUfkHt len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!A185 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DAjhmXv len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dKswQKHIkmN len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gBxWKDSwS len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IWSBfn len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KFOeVqoNj len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nQFTOtw len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NSBeFzU len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oDkbaeFtnLya len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - otDwuOwRo len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OYJATdc len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - prfGZwr len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pvzGiyjUV len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qGWpNj len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RFfiDMMZcX len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RJqAzy len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TCNvmingFbUe len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uhJeQHqKRz len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UzBRPckyS len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xSBkVDRhRh 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   
... (truncated)

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