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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 4fa86fa26d68bb18…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

153.0 KB Created: 2020-04-23 12:26:24 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: c8626e99f25b361049e0fab923161d91 SHA-1: 0d8d90e58f6b431ea3ce65dc65274b4787badab4 SHA-256: 4fa86fa26d68bb184e177258eea007d898741014f9e0390f2f095784301532bf
100 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic

The sample is an encrypted Excel 4.0 macro sheet, indicated by the OLE_XLM_ENCRYPTED_MACROSHEET heuristic. The presence of an AutoOpen macro (OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN) suggests it's designed to execute automatically upon opening. The extensive use of macro sheets and randomish titles points to a sophisticated obfuscation technique. Without a document body or script content, the exact payload and delivery mechanism remain unclear, but the structure strongly suggests malicious intent.

Heuristics 3

  • Encrypted Excel 4.0 macro sheet high OLE_XLM_ENCRYPTED_MACROSHEET
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet and BIFF FILEPASS encryption. Password-protected XLM macro sheets, especially the default Excel password path, are a common malware evasion pattern because static formula extraction may fail until the workbook is decrypted.
  • OLE metadata lists many Excel 4.0 macro sheets high OLE_XLM_DOCPROPS_MACROSHEET_INVENTORY
    Workbook contains a BIFF Excel 4.0 macro-sheet marker and its clear OLE DocumentSummaryInformation stream lists many MacroN sheet titles. This is a useful static signal when FILEPASS encryption prevents formula extraction from the workbook stream.
  • 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.