Malicious Office (OOXML) / .XLSM — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3a2ceb2ffa07034d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

106.9 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 14.0300
MD5: bc374efc1142d10a59f8e763edca4cc2 SHA-1: 93d561131bd6e5b9d364f58bd92caaf166228a05 SHA-256: 3a2ceb2ffa07034d902d8774cf0d8d1e1a2b0a5ed4d19bb447b634805dd14231
180 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically utilizing dangerous functions like CALL and EXEC. The embedded document body contains URLs that are likely used to download and execute a second-stage payload. The use of these functions and the presence of download URLs strongly indicate a malicious downloader.

Heuristics 4

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks.
  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OOXML_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    Workbook defines _xlnm.Auto_Open or _xlnm.Auto_Close while containing an XLM macro sheet. This is the OOXML/XLSB auto-execution shape for Excel 4.0 macros.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: CALL, EXEC, FORMULA.FILL, HALT critical OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet uses formula APIs that call directly into Win32 (=CALL/=EXEC/=REGISTER/=FORMULA). These are the primitives used to download payloads, write files, and start processes from an XLM macro without invoking VBA.
  • 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 http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
9cf577639483a84c18a4933d3e27f255a331eea77d6198cb6ba582a5fa65de0a
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 240381 bytes