Malicious Office (OOXML) / .XLSM — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8f1a239bf3b70a95…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

42.1 KB Created: 2020-01-28 19:47:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2023-05-30
MD5: d4220bf38be104615902cdb4a5db996b SHA-1: 9867c22039c4b7f2ffc11e3f5f6334ffcfcbe0e9 SHA-256: 8f1a239bf3b70a9511bf43adb7c5d4b692656b63c2e162973a197b74b7d40d6f
430 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.005 Visual Basic

The critical heuristics indicate the presence of a Workbook_Open macro that uses WScript.Shell and PowerShell to execute commands. The VBA script explicitly constructs a PowerShell command to download an executable from 'https://dikatafarm.co.za/lika/may30.exe' and then execute it. The document body contains a lure to enable content, which is a common tactic for macro-based malware delivery.

Heuristics 11

  • Shell() call in VBA critical OLE_VBA_SHELL
    Shell() call in VBA
  • WScript.Shell usage critical OLE_VBA_WSCRIPT
    WScript.Shell usage
  • PowerShell reference in VBA critical OLE_VBA_PS
    PowerShell reference in VBA
  • ClamAV: Xls.Dropper.EPPlus-9802867-2 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Dropper.EPPlus-9802867-2
  • ClamAV detection on extracted artifact critical EXTRACTED_FILE_CLAMAV
    ClamAV flagged at least one file extracted from inside this sample. Even when the wrapping document carries no AV detection of its own, a hit on the carved artifact is a strong indicator the sample is a delivery vehicle.
  • Workbook_Open macro high OLE_VBA_WBOPEN
    Workbook_Open macro
  • CreateObject call high OLE_VBA_CREATEOBJ
    CreateObject call
  • VBA project inside OOXML medium OOXML_VBA
    Document contains a VBA project — VBA macros present
  • 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
  • External hyperlinks (3) low OOXML_EXTERNAL_HYPERLINKS
    Document contains 3 external hyperlinks — clickable URLs are stored as external relationships. First target: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=846285
  • 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 https://dikatafarm.co.za/lika/may30.exe
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=846285
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=844969

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
c286a13569caccf3460a296501c749fff93c84f3f2bdee67b9f1b351281a55a8
vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 1549 bytes
vbaProject_00.bin
3cb5de5591bd20cfe3228e772a1c550a18e4506881a7f0f3c3e065bef9aad9f8
vba-project OOXML VBA project: xl/vbaProject.bin 5632 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Xls.Dropper.EPPlus-9802867-2
Obfuscation or payload: unlikely