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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9d5bb509bc24304e…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:27:11 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 27166bd557adc92461eabac73cdb65fd SHA-1: 1adc522159d51379c0bf1f451403f37851c69cbd SHA-256: 9d5bb509bc24304e1f4c4a312e3e9e9bf247468008d06e6fd3b182d8f2d77034
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding. This indicates that the workbook is configured to automatically execute a macro when opened. The presence of dangerous formula APIs, including the RUN function, strongly suggests that this macro is intended to execute arbitrary commands. While the specific payload is not directly visible, the pattern is consistent with a downloader that fetches and executes a second-stage malicious file. No specific family could be identified.

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
74f53428245a1d38facf808d5e01823b23c1696ee5697bd571c4013d4a89cac8
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6556 bytes