Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 96e0af996963b604…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:47:37 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-20
MD5: c14e224f11e7dbb523f0974203710cb4 SHA-1: b7372682e19d77ee5cf7d1d8d23ba55a9d160da1 SHA-256: 96e0af996963b60460c66e3ad79eaf0c262ac083030eec2ee9b74665ea97aa8a
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that contains an Auto_Open defined name, indicating it will execute automatically upon opening. Heuristics indicate the use of dangerous formula APIs, suggesting the macro is designed to run arbitrary code. The presence of an Auto_Open entry and the use of dangerous functions strongly suggest the intent is to download and execute a second-stage payload.

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) 6650 bytes
SHA-256: 132384b7a99ddf5e2ac266223ccfc9ed93157690bd77e9fc32e4baebead37dce
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     12 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  vPF
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!D185 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BARCAskSW len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CSbbcuR len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eQmqdtumeVaP len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hhfwXHgQMe len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jHEAjbPqVu len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jIPTUHARfg len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jJHANpAKx len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - noDKp len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QSXYImzb len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SgKCiQVSskQ len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SGUNvzwX len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SLXXPR len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tixHMZyXyak len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TvPAQtktFUO len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WKtknnNgw len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WkTMnkaXq len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WQgcFIKCfzy len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XjRitAJRdN len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yoERltw len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YwFbAk 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
' 00
... (truncated)

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