Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 7683bef537a3238f…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:42:40 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: ec833acdff45bf0e12662b42daf9e6a8 SHA-1: b5fc24aaf0ede77812a69f3415163aec289015aa SHA-256: 7683bef537a3238f79acbb4aa56973f2e07a9785f62946f50a5a20d4b6a5fda9
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open function. This function is designed to execute arbitrary code upon opening the document, which is a common technique for malware delivery. The presence of dangerous formula APIs in the Auto_Open macro further indicates malicious intent.

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
abe85e640ebedf20a4e1bd00c724acb0b80d74e436cffdfea4cf3882ee653779		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6820 bytes

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