Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 4946e6166e4a174e…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:45:44 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-12
MD5: 233a110c9d387c9f0f21e0c8843dd147 SHA-1: 5ee81c47ea74119aadd8f77d9f1bda00698022c9 SHA-256: 4946e6166e4a174e67bfc574639c7b489862e8972478f046cac52bb12db250fc
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro which is designed to execute automatically when the workbook is opened. This indicates an attempt to run arbitrary code, likely to download and execute a second-stage payload. The presence of the Auto_Open defined name and dangerous formula APIs strongly suggests malicious intent.

Heuristics 3

  • 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.

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) 6634 bytes
SHA-256: 73d6a18442f21d3c128c7c93935a08a3e5033236d247865ff718aba6053a016c
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     19 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  rAMbwtahRt
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!D158 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bdxYlIzQICX len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BQmjeFQabQbQ len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CfHTltXEIEdA len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EyqidW len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FyAJpYyvAU len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gkJHraka len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IlFTIaKIZsc len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - iWdmpO len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - kkGheLLW len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Leyuji len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lliLUXSiDUzo len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ppgiwOFb len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SIlxdu len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tmwcfGC len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UqvrCAR len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - vltXofcxcrcN len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xLaAmCzNYj len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZhyeFCJZL len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zQjDuHdMjB len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZsaICFfSx 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/ 
... (truncated)

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