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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 346ee8817352965c…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

80.5 KB Created: 2020-06-28 18:49:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: acb475814b5d81cd05d65e07e5cdb9c4 SHA-1: 33b53a6db814e2373c0c9e8d32feaa1f0bc67bb2 SHA-256: 346ee8817352965cc2b186525a1362d44e9aecf7f9a08aad1f7865f447de12f1
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.002 Spearphishing Attachment T1204.002 User Execution: Malicious File T1059.005 PowerShell

The sample is an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro-enabled spreadsheet. It contains an Auto_Open macro, indicated by the `OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN` and `OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME` heuristics. The document body presents a "protected document" lure, instructing the user to "Enable Editing" and "Enable Content" to view the content, which aligns with the `SE_ENABLE_LURE` heuristic. The XLM macro sheet also includes environment evasion techniques. While the specific payload is not detailed in the extracted XLM macro, the presence of an Auto_Open macro and the lure strongly suggest it's designed to execute malicious code upon user interaction.

Heuristics 4

  • 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 environment-evasion close gate critical OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_CLOSE
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes environment checks with GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW, then shows a fake corruption/error message and closes the workbook when the host fails those checks. This is a malware sandbox-evasion pattern, even when the later payload stage is hidden behind obfuscated defined-name flow.
  • 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

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
5ddb6788019f4730c697a2604e31eb2df8df76419a0260f42326ff352cb8738a		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 30628 bytes

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