Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2a22da423524beb9…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:44:11 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-23
MD5: 1972561809fa4c5518d0212a51186fd2 SHA-1: cd7e150364fd5ed4ffeda896cb8f39a22cc16de3 SHA-256: 2a22da423524beb9f31eb76c6b1cc3aa7114234b52e7c5d2b391dcadc687ab88
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 automatic execution upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN further suggests malicious intent. While the exact payload is not clear from the provided evidence, the Auto_Open macro is designed to execute arbitrary commands, likely leading to the download and execution of a second-stage payload.

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) 6809 bytes
SHA-256: 4f09ebd4de6395ddd8bbcd7f62e16b56c73d5b447caeeae032f69fd3d0c1ab08
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     17 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  XAGAaYWm
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aJkExMl len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aSdxXzzrfKVo len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!F153 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BhVUDFfetZSA len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CqrMGLcjYlBE len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CZhcW len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dmkEFgadNMF len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EYCUYD len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fmuhXWSQm len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FrGBh len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HZRvsFFm len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jMrtYapT len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LhyLeWbMiv len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mhMryAX len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mxOdp len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SyelzXZp len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uNTUWtxrkE len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - VUbkFuBh len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zcxMaEFL len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zfiwpl len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZjcdtWKfPX 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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