Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 489a37e9a36034a7…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

248.5 KB Created: 2020-07-29 08:28:18 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-07
MD5: 806c40d505b9ae829e9a0b159093a2c4 SHA-1: 6cce2764464bc3b5c587a213b3f25f93ac2da553 SHA-256: 489a37e9a36034a708099e1dca5188f41c5ff2ae392a1c3a7a5e0eaf679ace22
180 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that uses an Auto_Open defined name, indicating it will execute automatically upon opening. Heuristics indicate the presence of dangerous formula APIs and environment evasion techniques. The document body attempts to socially engineer the user into enabling macros by claiming compatibility issues.

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.
  • XLM Auto_Open environment-evasion HALT gate high OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_HALT
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes multiple GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW environment checks and halts execution when the host does not match the expected user environment. This is a common sandbox-evasion pattern in XLM malware and is stronger than a bare XLM macro-sheet indicator.
  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 270916 bytes
SHA-256: 80e77625c0c43c001b39ad38aff81c56f1fac3f64c2b741cccfec6535ae6e128
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     13 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  XmKm
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - AuiNHeyiESd len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open hidden len=7 ptgNameX  NAMEIDX 14 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cCVVbkv len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - egyJxiX len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GimnSFv len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JdPhxexmruhP len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JlkBdnQm len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KRlNLhLbD len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KrrsmoBxhVco len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NxGKTxKcMvGV len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oxPOFzbgfyDb len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pMXlDgnrM len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qeInDgByV len=0 
' 0018     32 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant -            hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!IO2136 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uJLrrcSetD len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yafaHGtwx len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zCtXsW len=0 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 0
... (truncated)