Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a3d8397550b360b2…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:41:16 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-07-02
MD5: da024696d0bf755696952fb1a5cd4322 SHA-1: 9053771168df44df4556ce5796474555d5d91505 SHA-256: a3d8397550b360b216481c7d811b2df66cdaadc36c4c9e33762d838d96ad3911
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding. This indicates an attempt to automatically execute code upon opening the document. 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) 6923 bytes
SHA-256: 7c663a15d06ab8c41d3c5aa6dfac64402db56f0d8650b4cd4f09b075d1831ccd
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 -  kjuLzuIsbLU
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ATxImEaL len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!C152 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DfwOoj len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DigMReKVGX len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FdjgDmay len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gnFpbJRAqnu len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GyissSIMWJb len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hCgfH len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IafQLxWb len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jNXOkvCP len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KskPZgXara len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nEmQT len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oILxbLEswA len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PqeQDXcOeilH len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PWaozyJde len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qWyQJvwrXFzX len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TlacJYml len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uReYIZ len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wEADjGLkLEic len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XtLUaWMgy len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zXkvxKu 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

... (truncated)

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