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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 b1c2c5771f90c790…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

1.10 MB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 3fa738d49e2ce07ff93b2f065c13c3e8 SHA-1: cdd5ed5b2691ba6e4d2865609278fdfc91321c37 SHA-256: b1c2c5771f90c790c79fecc034f8dd33ef0e27428d5260e133bd7df9ce5650fe
150 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.005 Visual Basic

The primary heuristic indicates exploitation of CVE-2017-0199 via an OLE2Link object, which attempts to load a remote resource. The extracted URL is directly associated with this exploit. Additionally, the document body and heuristics suggest an advance-fee scam lure, likely intended to trick the user into opening the malicious content. The presence of a secondary embedded PDF with suspicious static findings further supports a multi-stage attack.

Heuristics 5

  • OLE2Link / URL Moniker → remote loader — CVE-2017-0199 critical CVE likely CVE_2017_0199
    Document contains an embedded OLE link object whose URL Moniker points to a remote URL. When the host file is opened, Office follows the link, downloads the URL, and processes the response based on its Content-Type (HTA -> mshta.exe, RTF → Word, etc.) — the documented CVE-2017-0199 primitive. The URL extension is not a reliable filter; servers can return different payloads to Office's user agent.
  • Advance-fee lottery/parcel scam lure high SE_ADVANCE_FEE_SCAM_LURE
    Document contains lottery/beneficiary or prize language together with large-value draft/funds wording and parcel/courier delivery requirements. This is a classic advance-fee fraud document shape.
  • Secondary embedded PDF body has suspicious static findings high POLYGLOT_CHILD_PDF_STATIC_TRIAGE
    A valid PDF body was found at a nonzero offset inside another container and its carved contents matched PDF exploit or lure heuristics. This catches polyglots where the top-level magic routes to ZIP/OLE while a PDF reader or downstream parser opens the hidden PDF payload.
  • VBA project contains no executable statements low OLE_VBA_MACROS
    Document contains a VBA project, but extracted modules only contain attributes/options/comments and no executable statements.
  • PDF paints image(s) but contains no text operators info PDF_IMAGE_ONLY_LURE
    PDF has 1 image XObject(s) and the content stream contains no text-emitting operators (BT/ET, Tj, TJ, ', ") in either raw bytes or decompressed streams — this is the screenshot-as-PDF pattern used to bypass text-based scanners and to deliver instructions purely through rendered pixels. It is informational unless paired with invisible links or risky URI context.

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
7f506327609c082af1cd37dde23bc2c71a000f7d1ef530b6abb66775040a7673		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source) 1206 bytes
polyglot_child_pdf_off0005e000.pdf
24f46bf46d4c25022e99832886cdcce41a88210b0dee6ccfa7a6aa0e6eecc612		 polyglot-child-pdf Secondary PDF body inside ole container at offset 0x5E000 773120 bytes

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