Malicious Office (OLE) / .XLS — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 866093338cab1619…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

65.0 KB Created: 2022-01-17 17:40:35 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 882de9b6116f8e58c144b321bce5f0bf SHA-1: 79a3063d5dbbef30198bf1e88bc142c2f82a60ce SHA-256: 866093338cab161907d0fbc6a8b372a68da2f58bffad5ccc49ec208994d4ddfd
100 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 User Execution: Malicious File T1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet that uses a common lure to trick users into enabling macros. Upon enabling, the Auto_Open macro executes a command that decodes and downloads a payload from the URL 'http://0xc12a24f5/cc.html'. The macro is obfuscated using character escaping, but the reconstructed command is clear. The presence of an Auto_Open macro and the lure strongly indicate 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.
  • 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
0807f652a36752efcd354ce3c536f2fe7ed4cd53a3ff1787c33acb378dda90a0
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 1073 bytes