Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 ae05d781c6c14ea1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:24:49 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-07-10
MD5: a9b992d74db715d1d11a91d259a1f87d SHA-1: 50b34ef55c2248d6f9be51c6227b1ddfdb8759cd SHA-256: ae05d781c6c14ea1e049b234d10edcc4b14ebc66247d6fb7b3b4d93df7ad620d
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 with an Auto_Open defined name, which is a known method for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The macro sheet contains formulas that utilize dangerous functions, including 'RUN', suggesting an attempt to execute arbitrary commands. The presence of the Auto_Open entry is the primary IOC, indicating the trigger for the malicious execution.

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) 6549 bytes
SHA-256: 3f5a20fbbc648ee196d0b94c3eef27aaa93c3e55a414e074ca944c5079e874f8
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     17 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  JoUGJCpH
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aizoSP len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - arVjXc len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!C170 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cgCfHMYW len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fqwhBXMiSFg len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FSSdSJgxKhOG len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GQqKwUNA len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gyLSMcBiBpeY len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - InYUEgS len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IoclsM len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IwhsKFQGHit len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LclNOzWd len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nWuHHBlGUY len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OLDcnELMrZD len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oNKccXhb len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QKJGGCTE len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SCbzdjIEcet len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tfJcK len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wpXHub len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xDSPHGn len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zZrKgGHdMv 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 
... (truncated)

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