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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3e17902f205f9eeb…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

58.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:17:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 481ec848987762dfd1c36f08086728bf SHA-1: 63ec87c1490914d705e2e25157fe7f12510d9495 SHA-256: 3e17902f205f9eebafa811f9d32c1e23bc7b924039e561596f3e3c6ad6727c7f
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.001 PowerShell T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The sample contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The macro uses dangerous functions like RUN, indicating it's designed to execute external commands. The presence of 'ndll32' and 'DllRegisterServer' suggests an attempt to load a DLL, and the URL 'www.psicheaurora.it/fanta/download.php' is likely used to download a second-stage payload. The 'SE_ENABLE_LURE' heuristic confirms a social engineering tactic to bypass macro security.

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.
  • 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
f4049687de69fbae7a0009d349264e905f03c629c5b7f7eb1990c6538d126bea		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 2738 bytes

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