Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a30fef9bf8b43854…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:43:58 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-09-18
MD5: 082789b090f7890585282718d4976908 SHA-1: 45345949d3cd1dc2519317cadfa64d7ab9263c20 SHA-256: a30fef9bf8b43854e9c0b4cea6e7f4b134759237190af266cac94f67e6c4cb43
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-enabled workbook containing an Auto_Open function, which is a common technique for executing malicious code. The heuristics indicate the use of dangerous formula APIs within the XLM macro, suggesting an attempt to run arbitrary commands or download further payloads. No specific IOCs like URLs or hashes were extracted, but the presence of the Auto_Open macro is a strong indicator of malicious intent.

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) 6656 bytes
SHA-256: 9e2f997fbd3d15300079532181b004cffc8544180028eb34c4ba5529f7905d5f
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 -  PMl
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!D189 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CZTefi len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FNpKlS len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gPTUjYmnAd len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gtDhlcyO len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gUzrkUkL len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IxoOqP len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ixybnEkGoFv len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JHZQFAgVWP len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KmPnD len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mqsUrlU len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nGJWrCkqTZd len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nPgbrGw len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PvfLqgwo len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SKapIy len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ufZbsjFMitJq len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uscWwSwccaRt len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XHbPd len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YngcktCe len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ysSHzUmssmZ len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zfupcFqE 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     10 LABE
... (truncated)

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