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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9f82f7f74b4f5846…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

287.0 KB Created: 1996-12-17 01:32:42 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 32f9c69b661cec0c62b0aae5fa720e40 SHA-1: 5ea4ce613653fb927f4057857323457892c5f5e2 SHA-256: 9f82f7f74b4f5846edabed703195f6bc8c573a37507c51cf1e5545ef81e1257e
628 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1059.001 PowerShell T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.003 Windows Command Shell

This Excel file contains VBA macros, including Workbook_Open and Auto_Open, which are designed to execute automatically. The critical OLE_VBA_SHELL and OLE_VBA_WSCRIPT heuristics indicate the use of WScript.Shell to run commands. The presence of OLE_VBA_WMI_PROCESS_CREATE further suggests the creation of new processes. The document body contains what appears to be a parts list, likely serving as a lure to encourage macro execution. The ClamAV detection of 'Xls.Virus.Mailcab-6702020-0' confirms its malicious nature.

Heuristics 16

  • Shell() call in VBA critical OLE_VBA_SHELL
    Shell() call in VBA
  • WScript.Shell usage critical OLE_VBA_WSCRIPT
    WScript.Shell usage
  • VBA WMI Win32_Process launcher critical OLE_VBA_WMI_PROCESS_CREATE
    VBA macro builds or references a WMI moniker for Win32_Process and invokes .Create to start a command. This is a high-confidence macro execution chain that often hides the WMI class name through string concatenation or helper functions.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Virus.Mailcab-6702020-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Virus.Mailcab-6702020-0
  • Reference to Windows Script Host high SC_STR_WSCRIPT
    Reference to Windows Script Host
  • Workbook_Open macro high OLE_VBA_WBOPEN
    Workbook_Open macro
  • Auto_Open macro high OLE_VBA_AUTO
    Auto_Open macro
  • CreateObject call high OLE_VBA_CREATEOBJ
    CreateObject call
  • GetObject call high OLE_VBA_GETOBJ
    GetObject call
  • VBA p-code auto-exec with execution tokens high OLE_VBA_PCODE_AUTOEXEC_EXEC
    Compiled VBA/cache stream contains an auto-execution token together with shell/download/object-execution tokens. This catches p-code-only or source-extraction-failure macro documents where visible source is unavailable.
  • Clipboard command execution lure high SE_CLIPBOARD_COMMAND_LURE
    Document tells the user to copy or paste clipboard content into Run, PowerShell, cmd, or another shell-like execution context
  • Suspicious extracted artifact high EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • 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.
  • VBA macros detected medium OLE_VBA_MACROS
    Document contains VBA macro code
  • Macro/content-enable lure medium SE_ENABLE_LURE
    Document instructs the user to enable macros or editing — a common technique used by malware droppers to bypass Office macro security settings
  • Environ() call (env variable access) low OLE_VBA_ENVIRON
    Environ() call (env variable access)

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
680ab39a6873a8c1242b745111f20a26f3a37e28e0ca7398a5282e2476c06942		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source) 28317 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 7 shell/COM execution token(s). Carved artifact contains 9 Chr/ChrW string-construction calls. Carved macro source contains an auto-exec entry point and execution/download terms.

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