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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 5cb4822fab78120f…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

109.5 KB Created: 1996-12-17 01:32:42 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 3b7cc31be52d6acc3779e98a6f001c3d SHA-1: dc45ae49049a1831af41d18cf3f0f90c393c29ef SHA-256: 5cb4822fab78120f823e92cd20e2beef8c0bb05a33d94e3b774c0828833439b1
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file is an Excel 4.0 spreadsheet containing an Auto_Open macro, indicated by multiple critical heuristics including OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME and OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN. The macro uses dangerous functions like RUN, suggesting it's designed to execute arbitrary code. The presence of 'XL4Poppy' in the document body and script artifacts points to its likely purpose as a downloader or initial execution vector for further malicious activity.

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.
  • Legacy Excel formula macro virus marker critical OLE_XLS_FORMULA_MACRO_VIRUS
    Workbook stream contains self-identifying legacy Excel formula macro virus markers. This indicates the document carries formula macro virus content even when no VBA project or modern XLM macro-sheet structure is present.
  • 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
fd7a56383721ff61f0d7d8b2d65bc38398255b1f1ac5ab6ba0673b38ee78d05f		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 84266 bytes

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