Malicious Office (OOXML) / .XLS — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 4f3562743781503d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLS

67.8 KB Created: 2020-05-21 11:42:43 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 6a7fa20b8891990a948f138c7e05a890 SHA-1: b8f0c964386a054c34acb3ebd6071b05812acf68 SHA-256: 4f3562743781503d4f24066df6c4fe9313f34077e603bbc6fcecc83d3b2ef6ae
120 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that contains WinAPI strings indicative of downloading and executing a payload. Specifically, it uses URLDownloadToFileA to download a file to C:\Users\Public\biwa\wd.exe and then ShellExecuteA to run it. The macro sheet also calls CreateDirectoryA, suggesting it may create the target directory first. The confidence is high due to the clear WinAPI calls and reconstructed paths.

Heuristics 2

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks. The macro sheet is stored as XLSB/BIFF12 binary content, which many XML-only OOXML scanners miss.
  • Binary XLM macro sheet with WinAPI/download strings critical OOXML_XLM_BINARY_WINAPI_STRINGS
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet is stored as BIFF12/XLSB binary data and contains Win32 download or process-execution API strings such as URLDownloadToFileA, ShellExecuteA, or CreateDirectoryA. These strings are high-signal in XLM macro sheets and catch payload-download macros that XML-formula scanners cannot parse.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.bin
48b4a21f59f559c68e5891e71760d266cc3eba7f907103c4042d5d9b3b02c484
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.bin 5255 bytes