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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 921c51dbbfe33370…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

291.5 KB Created: 2020-11-20 17:59:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a3319337f0904d431d5a17826a3486e7 SHA-1: 739db8f6a4cb42ad92ab8f9d39061f700fb5e3c2 SHA-256: 921c51dbbfe33370d524d5dcc95c2f5f44527ea881e238ece5ed0bdab7641457
148 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a critical finding. The macro uses the EXEC function to run a PowerShell command. This command reconstructs a URL to download a file named 'ps.exe' from 'https://cutt.ly/jhGaWtu' and then executes it. This indicates the macro's purpose is to act as a downloader for a second-stage payload.

Heuristics 4

  • 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.
  • VBA project contains no executable statements low OLE_VBA_MACROS
    Document contains a VBA project, but extracted modules only contain attributes/options/comments and no executable statements.

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
29d5ab2c7e8951248e45ca1c3d7854baf224d0de291318674c540862db440bbc		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 2130 bytes
macros.bas
fed365d3401536fb63e11d0a36cc7c35338c0a8c74a96fb254c46366ad6287cd		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source) 642 bytes

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