Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 74f446d525c389e4…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:46:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-30
MD5: 0b27be2c497b20df288d54dc9cfd113c SHA-1: 74f2bbdbcd8a3b1158af3fddb3fc79df420b6125 SHA-256: 74f446d525c389e404b7ef9502fa3bdb6e3b7ed97c517d9611474b49715a3de9
140 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. It contains an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding indicating that the macro will execute automatically when the workbook is opened. 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 URLs or hashes were extracted, limiting further IOC identification.

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) 6663 bytes
SHA-256: 4a690ec6f5a4a547d59c8db1afe4770b78eb86a32f76ba1f72b565f66b764bc4
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  TbefQR
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ACGpsv len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - AmEVIPNY len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!D179 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dcmmHpS len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dxnhM len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KtMDRT len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LbyDbNnrvwfs len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LEYAkyNuI len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lmWykD len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nPbBwbbLeV len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OzZvLEpuC len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pcncyUOoUi len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RcnFC len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rwgQFIlX len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SBrsSYxyM len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - swJFvHo len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tdVncOkKRm len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uyuCTRbZ len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wLgdWRg len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WXuCPEYXCBH len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yJdRhJXn 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 LABEL
... (truncated)

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