Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6f57659b563c4716…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:40:12 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-11
MD5: fa2a514e8fdb3046f81bd8fdac3a35fe SHA-1: 7bea363a084929fd6144e2c34939102947f5b7bd SHA-256: 6f57659b563c4716c27f6c68b1ff39e5b99723ba994ea5c7d9885fe2baa3a4f2
140 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 defined name, which is a critical finding indicating automatic execution upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code, likely downloading and running a second-stage payload. No specific family could be identified from the available evidence.

Heuristics 3

  • 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.

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) 6359 bytes
SHA-256: 42cf1cdd416cce1d1be6fc546e9f47c41be06ee92c58bd41b373bf2cef95ed10
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     12 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  eES
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!H196 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bqTrprfR len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CDctzbJcK len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dckfa len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DmLXOLu len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DPphGvU len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DsJwfrLc len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - elSVxK len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fvPpJSQ len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gaIPyA len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hAhYmjpDS len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oGJcCFVF len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RMlZrZptXwoF len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ryexEfm len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sDULaK len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ucLtJJSt len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UYJsAhBoy len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xUhgglsZEqAp len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XUYsRfze len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YsikAUEzask len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zUINaFrYp 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 LABELSS
... (truncated)

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