Malicious Office (OOXML) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 4dc8d381cfe343fd…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

1.27 MB Created: 2014-07-04 09:40:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Office Word 16.0000 First seen: 2021-10-01
MD5: 1242ea6515f1b0d21765eee3c2979cd9 SHA-1: e7b3bf0a2b6dcd07ba4737b6a83d301d663ceac9 SHA-256: 4dc8d381cfe343fdfcff8f861ba4a183882a0099b04717554b0d0be07be6daae
458 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1059.003 Windows Command Shell T1204.002 Malicious File

This OOXML document contains a malicious VBA macro that is triggered by the Document_Open event. The macro utilizes WScript.Shell and cmd.exe, indicating it attempts to execute arbitrary commands. The presence of obfuscated auto-exec loaders and the use of CreateObject and Shell() calls strongly suggest the macro's purpose is to download and execute a second-stage payload, aligning with common malware delivery techniques.

Heuristics 13

  • VBA project inside OOXML medium 9 related findings OOXML_VBA
    Document contains a VBA project — VBA macros present
  • Shell() call in VBA critical OLE_VBA_SHELL
    Shell() call in VBA
  • WScript.Shell usage critical OLE_VBA_WSCRIPT
    WScript.Shell usage
  • Obfuscated auto-exec VBA loader critical OLE_VBA_OBFUSCATED_AUTOEXEC_LOADER
    Auto-exec VBA reconstructs strings with a heavy custom decoder (numeric char-array, repeated hex-string decode, or junk-token Replace removal) and feeds them to a COM-instantiation or execution sink. This obfuscated-loader shape keeps CreateObject/Shell/URL indicators out of the macro source.
  • Document_Open macro high OLE_VBA_DOCOPEN
    Document_Open macro
  • CreateObject call high OLE_VBA_CREATEOBJ
    CreateObject call
  • GetObject call high OLE_VBA_GETOBJ
    GetObject call
  • cmd.exe reference in VBA high OLE_VBA_CMD
    cmd.exe reference in VBA
  • VBA p-code auto-exec with execution tokens high OLE_VBA_PCODE_AUTOEXEC_EXEC
    Compiled VBA/cache stream contains an auto-execution token together with shell/download/object-execution tokens. This catches p-code-only or source-extraction-failure macro documents where visible source is unavailable.
  • Environ() call (env variable access) low OLE_VBA_ENVIRON
    Environ() call (env variable access)
  • Suspicious extracted artifact high EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • External hyperlinks (2) low OOXML_EXTERNAL_HYPERLINKS
    Document contains 2 external hyperlinks — clickable URLs are stored as external relationships. First target: http://www.mdpi.com
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://print.mdpi.lab/ In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/VB/Code/Techniques/RunTime_Debug_Tracing/VB6_Tracer_Utility_zip_cStringBuilder_cls.aspIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • https://github.com/VBA-tools/VBA-JSON/pull/82In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • https://github.com/VBA-tools/VBA-UtcConverterIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • https://redmine.mdpi.cn/projects/production-editing/wiki/User_GuideIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://merrin5.mdpi.lab/user/feedback/list/5In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://print.mdpi.lab/�In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingCanvasIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2014/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2015/9/8/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2015/10/21/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/5/9/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/5/10/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/5/11/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/5/12/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/5/13/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/5/14/chartexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2016/inkIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/drawing/2017/model3dIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationshipsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/mathIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingDrawingIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/wordprocessingDrawingIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordmlIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2012/wordmlIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2018/wordml/cexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2016/wordml/cidIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2018/wordmlIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2020/wordml/sdtdatahashIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2015/wordml/symexIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingGroupIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingInkIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2006/wordmlIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingShapeIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/00b0/index.htmIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/l���In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/00b1/index.htm����In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/2020/index.htm�h��In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/03b2/index.htm���In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/2032/index.htmIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/0052/index.htm,�In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/00b5/index.htmM*�WIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.mdpi.comDocument hyperlink
    • http://redmine.mdpi.com/projects/production-editing/wiki/MDPI_Formatting_Rules#ReferencesIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://search.crossref.org/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://redmine.mdpi.com/projects/production-editing/wiki/Tips_of_Word_Formatting_-_WildcardsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-word/wildcard-find-and-replace-with-track-changes/cd35b7-f539-4d0b-902d-7f977dcf67e5?msgId=0ed1476a-6108-4c94-8265-5cab6716046fIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.aspIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    +18 more URL(s)

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 1066837 bytes
SHA-256: 76ba1a14e13847e193bd41712be5acbb3e1e77f7e791bd6ac46c9a3a2dd8d1de
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 4 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
Attribute VB_Name = "ThisDocument"
Attribute VB_Base = "0{00020906-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
Attribute VB_GlobalNameSpace = False
Attribute VB_Creatable = False
Attribute VB_PredeclaredId = True
Attribute VB_Exposed = True
Attribute VB_TemplateDerived = False
Attribute VB_Customizable = True
Private WithEvents App As Word.Application
Attribute App.VB_VarHelpID = -1
Private Sub Document_Open()
Set App = Word.Application

End Sub

Private Sub App_DocumentBeforeSave(ByVal doc As Document, SaveAsUI As Boolean, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim a
a = ActiveDocument.ComputeStatistics(Statistic:=wdStatisticWords, IncludeFootnotesAndEndnotes:=True)

End Sub

Attribute VB_Name = "article_metadata"
Attribute VB_Base = "0{4E8CAA2C-5CB9-4345-9D6E-69C15B8E1D19}{A0D8DC72-F97D-49EB-8AA9-025A10AB8B9C}"
Attribute VB_GlobalNameSpace = False
Attribute VB_Creatable = False
Attribute VB_PredeclaredId = True
Attribute VB_Exposed = False
Attribute VB_TemplateDerived = False
Attribute VB_Customizable = False







Private Sub abstract_Change()

End Sub

Private Sub submit_metadata_Click()

    Word.ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Author") = authors
    Word.ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Title") = title
    Word.ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Subject") = abstract 'Left(abstract, 254)
    Word.ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Keywords") = keywords


    Dim strpdfname As String
    
    Application.PrintOut FileName:="", Range:=wdPrintAllDocument, Item:= _
                         wdPrintDocumentWithMarkup, Copies:=1, Pages:="", PageType:= _
                         wdPrintAllPages, Collate:=True, Background:=True, PrintToFile:=False, _
                         PrintZoomColumn:=0, PrintZoomRow:=0, PrintZoomPaperWidth:=0, _
                         PrintZoomPaperHeight:=0
    
    ' strpdfname = ActiveDocument.path & "\" & Left(ActiveDocument.Name, InStrRev(ActiveDocument.Name, ".") - 1) & ".pdf"

    '   ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat OutputFileName:= _
    '   strpdfname, _
    '    ExportFormat:=wdExportFormatPDF, OpenAfterExport:=False, OptimizeFor:= _
    '   wdExportOptimizeForPrint, Range:=wdExportAllDocument, from:=1, To:=1, _
    '  Item:=wdExportDocumentContent, IncludeDocProps:=True, KeepIRM:=True, _
    '  CreateBookmarks:=wdExportCreateNoBookmarks, DocStructureTags:=True, _
    ' BitmapMissingFonts:=True, UseISO19005_1:=True

    '''' below are codes to manipulate Acrobat.
    '''' single quotes are genuine codes, double or more quotes are comments

    ''Set pdapp = CreateObject("AcroExch.App")
    'Set pddoc = CreateObject("AcroExch.pddoc")
    '
    'pddoc.Open (strpdfname)
    ''pddoc.openavdoc (strpdfname)
    '
    'pddoc.SetPageMode (2)
    '
    ''====probably use pddoc.setinfo here to write author and keywords data to remove the quotation marks
    '' but syntax need to be researched
    '
    'Set jso = pddoc.getjsobject
    '
    ''msgbox jso.zoomtype.fitw gives fitwidth, but jso.zoomtype.fitw itself gives exception,
    ''and jso.zoomtype = jso.zoomtype.fitw does not work. maybe because vba mix upper case with lower case?
    ''consider use shell or command line to execute javascript if necessary? 'jso.layout also not working
    '
    'a = pddoc.Save(PDSaveIncremental, "")
    'pddoc.Close
    '
    'Dim strPrompt As String, editor_action As Integer
    '
    'strPrompt = "your pdf file has been generated at " & vbNewLine & strpdfname & vbNewLine & "please open the file and change magnification to fit width"
    'editor_action = MsgBox(strPrompt, vbOKCancel, "save as pdf done")
    '
    'If editor_action = 1 Then
    ''MsgBox (strpdfname)
    ''pdapp.Show
    'Else
    ''pdapp.exit
    'End If
    '
    'Set pddoc = Nothing

    MsgBox "Your pdf file has been generated at " & vbNewLine & strpdfname & vbNewLine, vbInformation
    article_metadata.hide
End Sub



Attribute VB_Name = "doi_pub_date"
Attribute VB_Base = "0{4F13DD7E-CF3A-470A-97FF-BB35A680A975}{7F7C6589-5C45-48FC-A
... (truncated)
vbaProject_00.bin vba-project OOXML VBA project: word/vbaProject.bin 2476032 bytes
SHA-256: 35267cd57ace9a70fc6f4e4529a391e6c6e5d0ae4142216cee9cb008ffbcb936

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