Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9492a38883160937…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

256.0 KB Created: 2020-08-10 14:23:12 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-07
MD5: 04115838a94df19889f1a0b67cfed3f7 SHA-1: 53f996d1705ca1a8a7e619a8a4453e3e1e647032 SHA-256: 9492a3888316093796abacf2ff775b6f2228bb02feaf11e395ceefef98d6b5aa
180 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.005 Visual Basic

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that contains an Auto_Open macro, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The document body attempts to socially engineer the user into enabling content. The presence of the Auto_Open macro and the environment evasion gate indicate a malicious intent to execute code.

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.
  • XLM Auto_Open environment-evasion HALT gate high OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_HALT
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes multiple GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW environment checks and halts execution when the host does not match the expected user environment. This is a common sandbox-evasion pattern in XLM malware and is stronger than a bare XLM macro-sheet indicator.
  • 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) 275701 bytes
SHA-256: 6822f24a7ec3634a74de474350119de98c9511f78971e7dca36772ae146a6b2c
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     17 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  JeNSsYBS
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open hidden len=7 ptgNameX  NAMEIDX 10 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fbmrDcnLs len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jgEYmImzryp len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jptAyWug len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jYSWGWEMht len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LIRpkLBICAOX len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LSCXpyOHEnnk len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nWTpoDJu len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - owHPOpvWK len=0 
' 0018     32 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant -            hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!JC13160 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tibSMGF len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tuUJbcrcap len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tYBpmVAl len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wAwFMvZj len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yctMxdO len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YUTKczQcj len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zNHThTcWgiPt 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     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/ SS
... (truncated)