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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6d0028c7a4c7641a…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

54.5 KB Created: 2020-10-26 09:31:23 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 52196176bdebad68813454f3e9aa930f SHA-1: 94c698ec64bc216de0c291c37194c9079e0393d6 SHA-256: 6d0028c7a4c7641abd12584e39d7a9864cb49d63fb0ce773570568275193df91
180 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 entry, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening the workbook. Heuristics indicate the use of dangerous formula APIs and environment evasion, suggesting an attempt to run arbitrary commands or download further payloads. The macro sheet itself is obfuscated, making specific command reconstruction impossible.

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.
  • XLM Auto_Open environment-evasion HALT gate high OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_HALT
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes multiple GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW environment checks and halts execution when the host does not match the expected user environment. This is a common sandbox-evasion pattern in XLM malware and is stronger than a bare XLM macro-sheet indicator.
  • 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
919f07c5ce11b2e90961f877414b7c72baa1c9fd384a282f03b14e2080cd35f1		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 16989 bytes

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