Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 49cbc858e9423655…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:25:40 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-07-10
MD5: db349f0df06f61e6a626700de42c7cef SHA-1: d8c7b729dcc44a7daa7687e0f4c7731dc09b4dad SHA-256: 49cbc858e94236559858a980906c46063edda6f459893b0bee20ec6ba73ae01b
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding indicating potential malicious execution. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN further supports this. While the exact payload is not clear from the truncated macro content, the mechanism strongly suggests an attempt to execute arbitrary code upon opening the workbook.

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) 6426 bytes
SHA-256: 40814a2de445dc375857420cbfb5696349c5788e8b5e8bac33a1962603c752ac
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 -  HVqD
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aorSjRLGG len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!B160 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BMsjNSBR len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - diHrWNtLoQb len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dkpijKTlZGv len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - egChQxSlmfsH len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HPunM len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hZialrhAFL len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - iBSyxMrkTawz len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ityKbO len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IUZBCPqs len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MbNqEkUnoxn len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MDDWqIKfzjq len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nqrWG len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PjxlPjR len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QvFDbLw len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SLakPGJgU len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TkFFqlBLkeS len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - usdlaCA len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - vNYaluBjd len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wseduxbP 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
' 00f
... (truncated)

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