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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 59f9071c89aedf68…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

1.20 MB
MD5: ef9415a2d8df3fd11bec92d493439407 SHA-1: 98aa70e6e92e437ae952de9d0f635e2ff420b3eb SHA-256: 59f9071c89aedf68a510ff9b7e0402208275627d7e7942656f487a70b5970394
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1559.001 Component Object Model Hijacking

The sample is an encrypted OOXML file that contains an Equation Editor OLE object. This object is known to be used to exploit vulnerabilities, such as CVE-2017-11882, to execute arbitrary code. The presence of an Ole10Native stream within the Equation Editor object, along with its anomalous size and entropy, strongly suggests it carries a malicious payload. No specific family could be identified, but the attack pattern is consistent with Equation Editor exploits.

Heuristics 4

  • Equation Editor OLE object high CVE related OLE_EQUATION_EDITOR
    Default-encrypted OOXML embedded OLE object xl/embeddings/oleObject1.bin contains the Equation Editor CLSID, the legacy component exploited by CVE-2017-11882, CVE-2018-0802, and CVE-2018-0798.
  • Default-encrypted OOXML exploit carrier layout high OOXML_ENCRYPTED_EXPLOIT_CARRIER_SHAPE
    Default-password encrypted OOXML package contains embedded OLE object parts and additional activation/decoy parts. This layout is common in malicious Excel exploit delivery and requires inspecting the decrypted package.
  • Equation Editor object carries payload-like Ole10Native stream high OLE_EQUATION_OLE10NATIVE_PAYLOAD_ANOMALY
    Default-encrypted OOXML embedded OLE object declares the Equation Editor CLSID but stores a large high-entropy Ole10Native stream with malformed package sizing. This is exploit-shaped Equation/OLE payload evidence.
  • Office OOXML encrypted with default VelvetSweatshop password medium OFFICE_DEFAULT_PASSWORD_ENCRYPTED_OOXML
    OLE EncryptedPackage decrypts with Excel's built-in VelvetSweatshop password. Office opens this transparently, and malware uses it to hide OOXML exploit parts from scanners that only inspect the outer OLE container.