Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a9459570787ca8b8…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:43:46 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2026-06-05
MD5: d2b393539d205aeb67a137d004a48c9e SHA-1: 95475871dae67feebbb654b57bbed94d70f3f8ad SHA-256: a9459570787ca8b8ea6623e64058da455b875590842a39e5b6ce63280fc4c04b
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The critical heuristics indicate the presence of Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a known method for executing malicious code. The macro sheet contains a reference to a dangerous function, 'RUN', suggesting it is designed to execute a payload. The extensive obfuscated text in the document body further supports the malicious intent, likely to conceal the execution of 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) 6455 bytes
SHA-256: 86a52168d2c8fa0988929ffdb767b886f2b95d1b06441b9db7b48767cca46525
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     13 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  XGZI
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!H147 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BxBtt len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CfyJBux len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EfnnCieKAYg len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EToItok len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gCBZj len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HrsMyvMdTEZu len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IsfUxUIWQ len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JRWQlOe len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KpWgPBzwFU len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KUxndK len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lXrBaO len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MgpaYhYywK len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MMrCrwpRl len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Nnurki len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pjHQwg len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QrzvReFVDGoa len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SwywKfMxWKG len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tKptlHwy len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TRepqwGYPdN len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XIyFFDb 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 LAB
... (truncated)

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