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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 98c9353d8ab34fd8…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

201.5 KB Created: 2009-08-28 01:13:41 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 407a2e1c29fa0519e8d5b90556378341 SHA-1: b98380bb098f464edbc2c567dd6f80aa73ac0e08 SHA-256: 98c9353d8ab34fd8277bd53a737d700951aebb39436a818a10addf9fb13d58d3
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Service Control T1059.001 Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell T1566.001 Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment

The file contains critical heuristic firings indicating the presence of Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro that utilizes dangerous functions like RUN. The embedded document body and script artifacts reveal strings related to 'XL4Poppy', 'Classic.Poppy by VicodinES', and 'The Narkotic Network 1998', which are indicators of a legacy macro virus. The presence of the RUN function strongly suggests the macro is designed to download and execute 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.
  • Legacy Excel formula macro virus marker critical OLE_XLS_FORMULA_MACRO_VIRUS
    Workbook stream contains self-identifying legacy Excel formula macro virus markers. This indicates the document carries formula macro virus content even when no VBA project or modern XLM macro-sheet structure is present.
  • 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
11a159584980d58cf7e4fc00ab2a59b8275099abee5dde904fd171d40e2000c8		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 96258 bytes

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