Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6eea9323d0a2e383…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

251.0 KB Created: 2020-08-10 13:25:22 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-07
MD5: 8b700d7b7db3b85fc73486b9fe02cbda SHA-1: fcd3c2dc1007d5d6346860b3883ecbdf15c38786 SHA-256: 6eea9323d0a2e383b0690af294cbb3ee554886742c34c641cfa3e0c4904d23cd
180 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro. The document body attempts to lure the user into enabling macros by claiming the content is protected. The presence of an Auto_Open macro and the user-facing lure strongly suggest this is a malicious document intended to execute arbitrary code upon opening.

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 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 269277 bytes
SHA-256: 88a09a381af129ae305aa654232cf175337537b8f3d2ceadb173a851858b34ac
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  bK7sT
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant -       hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!CA12347 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open hidden len=7 ptgNameX  NAMEIDX 1 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bqWSulFAZQzb len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eYjuVEwhR len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - founlvjs len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GYHUYvqm len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hdNjQ len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - iVcXcwjQwT len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LaqSaiPUT len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mFfQpVaZko len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oZAQWCSKo len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pgWjND len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sZBwC len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tViwazDsxO len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UKFqlzTiOJ len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wigyBNYNqIJ len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XyVLvS 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
' 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
' 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
' 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
' 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
' 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
' 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
' 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 LABEL
... (truncated)