Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8e3fef4e1a80eda1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:31:01 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-09-18
MD5: e3ec51f482a54ba41957573136b61927 SHA-1: 816f4697338f34f7a96701f9d7f882e5f95a5cdf SHA-256: 8e3fef4e1a80eda1899f39be214eeae69f28e273cbf3379388127f3b4fd6428c
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding indicating automatic execution upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code, likely downloading and running a second-stage payload. No specific family could be identified, but the technique is common for initial execution.

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) 6488 bytes
SHA-256: 082c175369dc47586d90d487258232f0fc3d2119c3b1b6d713299af0e8ca034f
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 -  RIWZxBP
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - asHFspWzMY len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!B152 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BtssiqYhsI len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cNBRfJPPIKq len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CvCcLgIhYnA len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gcowPfCayQ len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - iulbpocRDvXz len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jmyiQ len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JUfPc len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Mzyfr len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - otfgav len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OXkjh len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qGerYLjtZAPg len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rYdSvbHENKs len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SZQUU len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - udGgMhIUVoQh len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wgnRCEC len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XaYFUes len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xtFcc len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YtSVLeSgl len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yVCIjrKnf 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     1
... (truncated)

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