Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9ec298013f1ef0e1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:43:22 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-12
MD5: 6b767bb66111c3fc6a5db7126d837f83 SHA-1: 3d1316cf5d92f3d315254e55a6be32eb733f3a91 SHA-256: 9ec298013f1ef0e1494b4c92456a40cdb99eb71685d5462b5087e957a6263f4b
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding. This indicates the file is designed to automatically execute code upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN further suggests malicious intent, likely 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) 6852 bytes
SHA-256: fad8c608e52fef7c7a39139275aecc11850e80205542c69a9e02f443692e0695
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     20 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  hBhEQYFKwIB
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!F171 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ayltcDO len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EjmTfpZQe len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - euAnBzSGTm len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gbFhhcHv len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hpycaViufi len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lkAVrhPrS len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lmFizKZV len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nlxqaOBgHyAr len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OLYtieXb len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - patLUtmVjFR len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rAZHKrrotrgV len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SAemyDYD len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SRjBTs len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - syaoJEP len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uLAbR len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xkXneVIM len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XTPKv len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yCgBQLbwz len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yLEeF len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yLspAlyNNM 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  
... (truncated)

Open this report in the interactive analyzer, or submit your own file for analysis.