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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 301d277fe1f0a05b…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

373.0 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: fa851fd3052eb9d321358a9becbe2437 SHA-1: 0eb33e7dc1b3ced1e12f0c4a3ae4e6f9a97e1f21 SHA-256: 301d277fe1f0a05b02ac8a3cf4584c696474fb91aa294693a20abbf450004a5f
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet. It contains an Auto_Open macro that uses dangerous API calls, including 'RUN', indicating it is designed to execute arbitrary code. The document body and embedded artifacts suggest the macro's purpose is to download and execute a second-stage payload from one of the provided URLs. The 'SE_ENABLE_LURE' heuristic confirms the document attempts to trick the user into enabling macros.

Heuristics 5

  • 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
  • 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 https://allproac.com/u8AwHMG0OM/alex.html
    • https://karnafulimarine.com/lmjhxNSMbf/alex.html

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
7b20680a5c8f61ed44dce4de0580631b9188f0dd2fb85ee91819a05bfb80a422
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 5292 bytes