Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6efc93e298cea9f5…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

80.0 KB Created: 2020-06-28 18:49:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-07-24
MD5: 7e1ece61235cb1d4612ca37447287dea SHA-1: 04edb149fedb342c19149d792c5714d764a0f39a SHA-256: 6efc93e298cea9f520dc153163e0ae085fa21a7635799a94356c544b1848379a
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that uses an Auto_Open function to execute malicious code. It employs environment evasion techniques and presents a 'protected document' lure to trick users into enabling macros. The presence of an Auto_Open entry and the lure strongly suggest it's a downloader or 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 environment-evasion close gate critical OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_CLOSE
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes environment checks with GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW, then shows a fake corruption/error message and closes the workbook when the host fails those checks. This is a malware sandbox-evasion pattern, even when the later payload stage is hidden behind obfuscated defined-name flow.
  • 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 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 30549 bytes
SHA-256: 57915d57bdaf9a473a17dab3bd71f3912a8332100c88c71fd751cc3e88768586
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     10 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  v
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - afDJQuIH len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  v!BE36093 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ayOHrZbvY len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BikFhm len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BKhcG len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BLftgT len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bNTarS len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BQwDW len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CIbjYEzzx len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cmsoBRg len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CNHZIfPZ len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cUsIBk len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DccENZBVz len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DdPfild len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dvsPlKC len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eMoFlrLTI len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eUzuvt len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FJjXUO len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FRUjFGPZ len=0 
' 0018     29 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fzqhuGonbNoLXl len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Gluvty len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HDPfu len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HjDiHYkY len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HjPMu len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hVHiF len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IouOWLqmm len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IUwQvTlx len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - joZSZER len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jqHihxnqh len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jQiUYxYj len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JvXtGUCT len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - kIama len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KOzGNeFE len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lCUoICr len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ljdvsPyKP len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lKZSCjm len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LrLRZOtDE len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Lvdfzc len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mJeDJ len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MoInLdD len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - njjinYRY len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NNnwJlF len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NxfhDfjx len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OaDWCarR len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pkZtkbozi len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PXNsnomrc len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QENkfJ len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QgkmeET len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QWSduJRSb len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rDwPyVF len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RfNeQ len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RhXaS len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rjJYQ len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rqSzRDHhI len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SonPwOBF len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SUdniLb len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SVpSWkuQ len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant 
... (truncated)