Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 84b59de6704755dc…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:42:40 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-02
MD5: 8761bbbed3374ddd16d99133b9327cb5 SHA-1: 1084a3ca9d7042744afceda2de1129636ab25887 SHA-256: 84b59de6704755dcaa969aa91b52db360b7aff951b5ea4226262b15c6f031804
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. Heuristics indicate the presence of an Auto_Open macro and the use of dangerous formula APIs, specifically the RUN function. This strongly suggests the macro is designed to execute an external payload. No specific URLs or hashes were extracted, but the technique is common for initial payload delivery.

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) 6514 bytes
SHA-256: 8e97de570189c33ff434f2635117764da757b7a0c4de1d0978c613435d7c00bb
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     16 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  SMQWTpV
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!H164 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - avcga len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BUbzoA len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CMsuZf len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - idcSSOLJwHR len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - iGbXMI len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JfMUVaQPfWiS len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mmztYB len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mTaXiB len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OulAMGK len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PfRjv len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QaCkouo len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RijptOZE len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SoogTXxqs len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tkkjvaDxG len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TQvblaAMSZqi len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tRljGDToDsBS len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wBwNKcYYtXf len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XOdjiCBfQHUF len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YNTeUVkqsBIN len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zwvZyPxwn 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  
... (truncated)

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