Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 65c8833e36abc4c6…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:33:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 7ad9caf879a58b110b3dc8702aa36277 SHA-1: aea35dbf579f5cd78948753709df0e949c4f89f3 SHA-256: 65c8833e36abc4c625a2dc1d068a5cf50012b5ea5e9727a8f46df19d8a672438
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 defined name, which is a critical heuristic firing. This indicates the workbook is configured to automatically execute XLM macros upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code, likely downloading and running a second-stage payload.

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
e024e65bda17218e59ba382e4f0cf7aaf30268ae455c52e5998b7aa53417eb23		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6634 bytes

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