Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 552f98feb98ef303…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:37:40 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 033cfe2214c847b6831b1a5c72610266 SHA-1: 7a1a4b09e03b338be052fa6368ee3b97bfe04d17 SHA-256: 552f98feb98ef303972dfc683553e18c67c9a55cb928a94e3a63941523398db2
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open function, which is a known method for executing malicious code upon opening the workbook. The critical heuristic firings indicate the presence of dangerous formula APIs within the Auto_Open macro, suggesting it is designed to run arbitrary commands or download further payloads. No specific family could be identified from the available evidence.

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.
  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
81825ff82275cd9a6c6551f37f5d8ea41158f42814bf4aadf15e9a2e10f7a844		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6735 bytes

Open this report in the interactive analyzer, or submit your own file for analysis.