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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 51d7df7f130bcd05…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

110.5 KB Created: 2020-11-20 17:59:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: dfb33093e5bfdc3a59b4523186797fb1 SHA-1: f60cddc34edcf3f0e3c19d6a451db67e5125c0fb SHA-256: 51d7df7f130bcd0589a39371e4c10732c3b321709ed36ba286cbec858c7a0eee
148 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Service Control T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious Link: Malicious File

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a critical finding. The macro executes a PowerShell command that reconstructs a URL from concatenated strings: 'https://tinyurl.com/y7zcye22'. This URL is used to download a file named 'gn.exe' into the user's AppData directory. The use of XLM macros and the execution of a downloaded executable are indicative of a downloader or initial access stage.

Heuristics 4

  • 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.
  • VBA project contains no executable statements low OLE_VBA_MACROS
    Document contains a VBA project, but extracted modules only contain attributes/options/comments and no executable statements.

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
620f52072cc86b1989e26749f5a984b347da18e6871a3c52a642c0c8138d601b		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 1913 bytes
macros.bas
fed365d3401536fb63e11d0a36cc7c35338c0a8c74a96fb254c46366ad6287cd		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source) 642 bytes

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