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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6e5ecbcec5a538fa…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

52.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:17:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 5e7b24bfd0d43f8ad1d9e06f5d2e663a SHA-1: 653308a9f8040d83d34cd5491f99b6377be7c0cb SHA-256: 6e5ecbcec5a538fa5e7218fa818f5282b7e8c8466b619d9f48b6a58cb20f31b5
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, including an Auto_Open entry, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening. The macro attempts to download a payload from the URL 'http://parosdiving.com/catsdeal/color.php'. The presence of the 'SE_ENABLE_LURE' heuristic indicates the document likely prompts the user to enable macros, further supporting its role as a malicious dropper.

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.
  • 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
a86dec99e2013db52fcb6c6382b9017e3956457f0a39ff5efd1f9ebf10b6deee
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 2321 bytes