Malicious Office (OOXML) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8bec46e68570dba1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

357.7 KB Created: 2020-05-11 14:19:29 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 15.0300 First seen: 2020-12-25
MD5: d83a82ae1cfdbe27ba6c240f9b47985e SHA-1: e88fa222df6ff564fff60d23a05bfb81bc2c7427 SHA-256: 8bec46e68570dba1b300fbd40e19207ab65a7dfab4e162fa1c3a457d503d2b2a
182 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, which are known to be used for malicious purposes. The macros contain strings indicative of downloading and executing a file, such as URLDownloadToFileA and ShellExecuteA. The reconstructed URL http://pmcphoto.com/ds/08.gif is likely the source of the second-stage payload.

Heuristics 4

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks. The macro sheet is stored as XLSB/BIFF12 binary content, which many XML-only OOXML scanners miss.
  • Binary XLM macro sheet with WinAPI/download strings critical OOXML_XLM_BINARY_WINAPI_STRINGS
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet is stored as BIFF12/XLSB binary data and contains Win32 download or process-execution API strings such as URLDownloadToFileA, ShellExecuteA, or CreateDirectoryA. These strings are high-signal in XLM macro sheets and catch payload-download macros that XML-formula scanners cannot parse.
  • URL reconstructed from XLM cell array (1 URL) critical OOXML_XLM_CELL_ARRAY_URL
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet stages its payload URL across individual numeric cells (one ASCII charcode per cell), inside an embedded HTA that uses VBScript Chr()/&-concat obfuscation, or split across multi-char fragment cells a download formula concatenates by reference (=A1&A2&… / CONCATENATE(...)). The reconstructed URL is invisible to literal-bytes URL extraction because it is never contiguous in the workbook stream. URLs were recovered by walking the BIFF12 record stream of every worksheet and macrosheet part and decoding RK/inline-string/shared-string cells in row-major and column-major order plus FORMULA cell-reference concatenation in token order.
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://pmcphoto.com/ds/08.gif Referenced by macro

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.bin xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.bin 54253 bytes
SHA-256: 09c405fc2b2e1b5d03ccafd6cb4452ff254d06be145dbcd32d1fa85e4b7179da
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
�  �  �   @      ��������    �      �       �   �  �  �     r   D   @   d           � $        �                   �   �   �  �  %      ��    & �  ����        �  <         �         <         �         <         8,        <                   < �   �   q         < �   �   8
        �  �  %      ��    &                        �    &�           E       DG      �  Ao      � �       �   T I T J G T R U I T G R U I T G R U I R T G U I G T R U T G R U I T G R T G R I U G T R I U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U S G T R U R T U U T R U   J    � T I T J G T R U I T G R U I T G R U I R T G U I G T R U T G R U I T G R T G R I U G T R I U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U S G T R U R T U U T R U A�      l�          Y      t g r r g d y y r t g r y g t r y u    y U Y Y U Y R U Y U u y T Y y t T Y y Y E R A0     %      ��    &                        �    �         �   F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J Y T Y T Y T T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T G H J   �    � F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J Y T Y T Y T T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T G H J    R T A0     %      ��    &                        �    �         �   F E R Y T T Y T Y T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T Y T Y T Y T Y T T Y G H J   �    � F E R Y T T Y T Y T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T Y T Y T Y T Y T T Y G H J    R T A0      �         �   F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T G F G R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T G H J   �    � F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T G F G R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R
... (truncated)