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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 627514179c485caf…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

64.0 KB Created: 2021-12-16 23:53:43 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a9c792fd891479aaaf60286a0160c8da SHA-1: b80b64a82893a13b6b6132e167bbe7fdb706a6a9 SHA-256: 627514179c485caf59499a86f96a39eff2b3c8b9592354d9044e8ced8a89af23
100 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.005 Visual Basic

The sample contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet with an Auto_Open entry, indicating automatic execution upon opening. The macro is obfuscated but reconstructs to a command that downloads a payload from a suspicious URL. The document also displays a lure to encourage users to enable macros, a common tactic for macro-based malware.

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
5b6a229f32f262b2c382f3c832a9f8a5e27f96ac7637e45dc67edc9bb251f152
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 1514 bytes