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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 434309f5ebf49d7d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

31.0 KB Created: 2021-01-28 13:44:49 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a41947632aef9a64205f07fd3b26e572 SHA-1: 60fc192b4a68081d39b5fe7242e5d6647c065927 SHA-256: 434309f5ebf49d7d2af4bc9c1ad39ad1a1bb55ee5c9c57812ba776bd8ff88d55
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.002 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.005 Visual Basic T1059.001 PowerShell

This Excel 4.0 macro-enabled document contains an Auto_Open macro, a common technique for executing malicious code upon opening. The document body explicitly instructs the user to 'enable Editing and Content mode', acting as a lure to bypass security settings. The presence of the Auto_Open macro and the lure strongly suggest the intent is to download and execute a second-stage payload, although the specific execution details are not fully recoverable from the truncated macro listing.

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
6bb1d55ca7c34813d6e16546cf2ecda5f8f4cffd3fa2c5d175bfb463df93255e		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 3418 bytes

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