equation editor exploit — RTF malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a81fec166f21ec17…

MALICIOUS

RTF

8.3 KB First seen: 2019-05-16
MD5: 2a2b35df7d4c3bb20b070b9681fa80d3 SHA-1: 6e8e91f99f6459c9d4b95a1b4709d1fac8daec55 SHA-256: a81fec166f21ec173c4aae58c5c7d042a2097de298b56d6b9a897395e5e256f0
120 Risk Score

Malware Insights

equation editor exploit · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The RTF file contains an embedded OLE object that leverages the Equation Editor vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882). The critical heuristic firing for 'RTF_EQUATION_EDITOR' at offset 0x9A3 and the 'RTF_OBJUPDATE' heuristic confirm that the document attempts to activate this embedded object, leading to arbitrary code execution. The file's SHA256 hash is provided as a primary IOC.

Heuristics 3

  • Equation Editor CLSID critical CVE likely RTF_EQUATION_EDITOR
    Equation Editor OLE CLSID found inside an OLE object — exploited by CVE-2017-11882 / CVE-2018-0802 / CVE-2018-0798
  • \objupdate forces OLE activation high RTF_OBJUPDATE
    RTF contains \objupdate — forces automatic OLE object instantiation when the document is opened, bypassing user interaction. Almost exclusively seen in Equation Editor exploit documents.
  • OLE object data medium RTF_OBJDATA
    RTF contains 1 \objdata section(s) — embedded OLE objects

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
objdata_00_off00000033.bin rtf-objdata-decoded RTF \objdata at offset 0x33 4136 bytes
SHA-256: 015673337d6b0a51d7e71c7273fd45529dc654720e11930115c91643e4673883

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