Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2b071ecf312fcf21…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

311.5 KB Created: 2020-07-10 10:41:45 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-15
MD5: 6fef92ce73548eeb2516ebc76330ddc7 SHA-1: 95fab5d5e49b4a2cd1131f04bb26b959d46470b8 SHA-256: 2b071ecf312fcf21f3b3bdcaf4465074f1e990d70ffbc7ed26acd34de68177d1
182 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a strong indicator of malicious intent. The heuristics indicate the use of dangerous formula APIs like RUN, suggesting the macro attempts to execute external code. The document body and heuristics also point to a lure impersonating a document signing service to encourage macro execution. No specific family could be identified, but the technique is common for initial payload delivery.

Heuristics 6

  • 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
  • Document signing service impersonation lure medium SE_DOCUSIGN_LURE
    Document impersonates DocuSign, Adobe Sign, or a similar signing service in a signing-request context
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# In document text (OLE body)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In document text (OLE body)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceRef#In document text (OLE body)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In document text (OLE body)

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) 69851 bytes
SHA-256: f72cd982948eb129ce4912dc65fcabe0afe2cc0f73576496836adfade03bca7e
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, very hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     11 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  QM
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     19 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  snQgyTmgWC
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!T5952 
' 0018     29 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HoGrvWKHBTQnJh len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JReGZFdu len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - njv len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!FJ50507 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pYvfpvrE len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uwcjDLzf len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - VMCQaJJviKgs len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YWbMTaqS len=0 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 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 V
... (truncated)