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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 488b854fd4b358b1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

998.8 KB
MD5: 29b9cfb144df634334e66345cdaeb91a SHA-1: 958ccc2ca162fa1bd1e84a45f63b6303e88ebeb1 SHA-256: 488b854fd4b358b13e6b804ce4eb04ce1931d56c3b4a3769d64411a09ffe229c
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204 Malicious Link T1204.002 Malicious File T1566 Phishing T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter

The sample is an OOXML file that is encrypted with a default password and contains embedded OLE objects, specifically identified as Equation Editor objects. These objects carry a payload-like Ole10Native stream, indicating the exploitation of a known vulnerability within the Equation Editor component. This is a common delivery mechanism for malware.

Heuristics 4

  • Equation Editor OLE object high CVE related OLE_EQUATION_EDITOR
    Default-encrypted OOXML embedded OLE object xl/embeddings/oleObject1.bin contains the Equation Editor CLSID, the legacy component exploited by CVE-2017-11882, CVE-2018-0802, and CVE-2018-0798.
  • Default-encrypted OOXML exploit carrier layout high OOXML_ENCRYPTED_EXPLOIT_CARRIER_SHAPE
    Default-password encrypted OOXML package contains embedded OLE object parts and additional activation/decoy parts. This layout is common in malicious Excel exploit delivery and requires inspecting the decrypted package.
  • Equation Editor object carries payload-like Ole10Native stream high OLE_EQUATION_OLE10NATIVE_PAYLOAD_ANOMALY
    Default-encrypted OOXML embedded OLE object declares the Equation Editor CLSID but stores a large high-entropy Ole10Native stream with malformed package sizing. This is exploit-shaped Equation/OLE payload evidence.
  • Office OOXML encrypted with default VelvetSweatshop password medium OFFICE_DEFAULT_PASSWORD_ENCRYPTED_OOXML
    OLE EncryptedPackage decrypts with Excel's built-in VelvetSweatshop password. Office opens this transparently, and malware uses it to hide OOXML exploit parts from scanners that only inspect the outer OLE container.