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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a7838012d6da4266…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:39:36 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-03-11
MD5: 168949f9416edbf1796015eb0d64f979 SHA-1: 2e61e59497ba45be425dbb58492aa1d050619b45 SHA-256: a7838012d6da4266a2d3cdd43c2f3bdc86401f32a8ea135922236142495adac6
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1059.001 PowerShell T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file is an Excel 4.0 spreadsheet containing an Auto_Open macro, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening. The critical heuristic firings indicate the presence of an Auto_Open defined name and the use of dangerous formula APIs, specifically the RUN function, to execute arbitrary commands. This suggests the file is designed to deliver a payload or perform other malicious actions immediately after being opened by a user.

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
5101426a023b224cdde6a049f4a41271b63c50d629919a99911c2c0a0c6490ea
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6356 bytes