Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2be72a44c9357245…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:42:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-04
MD5: e0ae4090ca89684c59e873b798b9c6f5 SHA-1: 7fd6183f9cdf54f325c1be9252de027be4ac8fae SHA-256: 2be72a44c9357245872b3344ae9c5a51f485a4456487fdd5fee0b045ea1fe85a
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 and dangerous formula APIs, specifically the RUN function. This strongly suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary commands upon opening the workbook. While no specific URLs or payloads were extracted, the pattern is consistent with a downloader or initial execution stage for a more complex attack.

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) 6483 bytes
SHA-256: bd03c07c303f8de8c82aef7452d95794a5f585ff67d4af60f334585ffb604b43
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     12 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  pVZ
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - AHNnXyAJSdst len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!A159 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BmigA len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bvEmpkdt len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - caJQmaNGOQvc len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cytsTV len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - efuRPRkEMmG len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gDGDrrrAjROc len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gIGZXmUq len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IsKnkmMrDq len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IZmpHO len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KxfDL len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ltBrPShaEd len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LxsLXFM len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ORNtZoz len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pcLuXbEC len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QWvXPiuqdaUW len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RYDMh len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sgMmUTX len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UkxkND len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UtezvSXtyDH 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     10 L
... (truncated)

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