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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 92e96e0a17dff2de…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

236.0 KB Created: 2020-09-14 03:33:27 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: e3c97f3d0e7bea56b4f675055fafd91f SHA-1: 400e7e331810be380939e86a9404b40e5bfd0ab1 SHA-256: 92e96e0a17dff2de9d76b2ada366b7b0775ade7eb2b954076373a8a0316a037f
60 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that is encrypted, as indicated by the OLE_XLM_ENCRYPTED_MACROSHEET heuristic. The OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN heuristic further suggests that macros are present and likely intended to run automatically. Due to the encrypted nature of the macro sheet, the specific actions it performs could not be determined, but the presence of encrypted macros strongly indicates malicious intent.

Heuristics 2

  • Encrypted Excel 4.0 macro sheet high OLE_XLM_ENCRYPTED_MACROSHEET
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet and BIFF FILEPASS encryption. Password-protected XLM macro sheets, especially the default Excel password path, are a common malware evasion pattern because static formula extraction may fail until the workbook is decrypted.
  • 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.