Xls.Dropper.Agent-8011128-0 — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 7ee74bb0172abc14…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

67.0 KB Created: 2020-05-24 20:48:54 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 7fd42c93dc8a5bd3fbd18a669209012f SHA-1: 26d77e1e920ca8a98dd49ea9fd58a05285e811fb SHA-256: 7ee74bb0172abc141ca3c86f450ebddd0b722a33ce26e78bad3b505d615754d3
220 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Xls.Dropper.Agent-8011128-0 · confidence 95%

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

The file is an Excel 4.0 spreadsheet containing an Auto_Open macro, identified by multiple critical heuristics. This macro is designed to execute dangerous functions, including RUN, and is likely intended to download and execute a second-stage payload from the obfuscated URL found in the document body. The presence of a lure to enable macros further supports its malicious intent as a dropper.

Heuristics 5

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Dropper.Agent-8011128-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Dropper.Agent-8011128-0
  • 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
2411a53022b9c994afd902b6820e48d694ef101d02f785501c2fe9d77d87c99f
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 39256 bytes