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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 36ab3e33c8749c04…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

1.31 MB Created: 2005-03-09 01:13:30 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 5a50e4b8ffba2cbf8e3411f1d235e285 SHA-1: 704a5ca324b68f5003a1208c9ec43de86f2f86d8 SHA-256: 36ab3e33c8749c047926fd84536a7996b3c4f745a559135fa78bd1c093759624
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file is an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro-enabled spreadsheet. Heuristics indicate the presence of an Auto_Open macro, which is a common technique for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The macro sheet is named 'XL4Poppy', suggesting a known malware variant. The macro uses dangerous formula APIs, including RUN, to execute arbitrary commands. The document body contains what appears to be product or pricing information, likely a lure to disguise the malicious macro.

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 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.
  • Legacy Excel formula macro virus marker critical OLE_XLS_FORMULA_MACRO_VIRUS
    Workbook stream contains self-identifying legacy Excel formula macro virus markers. This indicates the document carries formula macro virus content even when no VBA project or modern XLM macro-sheet structure is present.
  • 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
0fd59a6d58cce6f167ab20f0684aa3113f0f46ee266d8a6ccaae6ed18a5b8417		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 625120 bytes

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