Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 aa60b572c9d371be…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:41:08 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-30
MD5: 643391574984105eb1a3e6976e2fad9c SHA-1: 3fdb695686cbbb1b55851e8ee76d86ec87ae41b8 SHA-256: aa60b572c9d371be6a9fd9469c88b2a4a30247a89d4ddba958f1ce5ca71cb108
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 sheet containing an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical indicator of malicious intent. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code, likely downloading and running a second-stage payload. The specific functions and obfuscated nature of the macro prevent definitive family attribution.

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) 6492 bytes
SHA-256: 6a370e4867873d0703b3d36b15cec7681f7cf1c969ef4b282226f8f4d25e7af8
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     16 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  JGhWghi
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - AjOiUvSe len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!G152 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BaAwlQViO len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cmdhsUzamJZK len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eDaxCVEc len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EoeboeK len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - etDRVV len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fZRiDvZPkmT len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gLySymP len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JBwWEPhxwE len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mpzeEtJ len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Pchnk len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PXgEk len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sAMnvPNcI len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sxWCKtgRONzg len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tJiPr len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - TYWGgJcGdhYY len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - UBdayFWeub len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XKRLyvxRV len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YYodl len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zpnRrE 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 LA
... (truncated)

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