Malicious Office (OLE) / .XLSX — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2b0e79ab69a853a9…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:46:32 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a14254dfc93acec71961d80578f5096f SHA-1: 796a21c757b93af62a27d2717d3e17c918a63996 SHA-256: 2b0e79ab69a853a930e399ebc7f115dfe8550169512ae3c8b5a8fa2c154f6aa9
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1059.001 PowerShell T1059.003 Windows Command Shell

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding. The presence of the 'RUN' function within the macro indicates an attempt to execute arbitrary commands. This is a common technique for initial execution and payload delivery.

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
a6ef9c2418d25e8a86d2c1d128c806bf30b6136f5f4107c0ad574461f4fcc326		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6941 bytes

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