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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 39ee443696e694fa…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

41.0 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:17:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 647fc69e0e36c25b63cb92cd97132ff7 SHA-1: aac14ae292225e04f34be621a15389e9997aa962 SHA-256: 39ee443696e694fa1ce7169cd27dd8047f7b4964a1434996fdb64ea81a8c91e1
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1059.001 PowerShell

The file is an Excel spreadsheet containing Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros. The critical heuristic OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN indicates the presence of dangerous formula APIs within the Auto_Open macro, specifically the 'RUN' function. This suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary commands or download and run additional malicious content. The presence of an Auto_Open defined name further confirms the auto-execution capability. No specific family could be identified, but the technique is common for initial payload delivery.

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
a6f040454ef9873e4fef92783e2b8971e1cdaa5bdfebbfba4e84c1c30f9de690
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 8038 bytes