MALICIOUS
180
Risk Score
Malware Insights
MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution
The file is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled workbook containing an Auto_Open entry. Heuristics indicate the presence of dangerous formula APIs and an environment evasion halt gate within the macro. This suggests the macro is designed to execute commands, likely to download and run a second-stage payload, which is a common technique for malware delivery.
Heuristics 4
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Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAMEoletools 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.
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XLM Auto_Open with dangerous formula APIs critical OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FNExcel 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.
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XLM Auto_Open environment-evasion HALT gate high OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_HALTExcel 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.
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Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet present medium OLE_XLM_AUTOOPENWorkbook 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.
| Filename | Kind | Source | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
xlm_macros.txt3761b3e6b17f30f9c35311b139b05534dda778fa6705a74bd116a97e1d63be16 |
xlm-macro | oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) | 12974 bytes |
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