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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 b4897710503ff7fd…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:47:40 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 8709710c465faee0c68c914eb13dbaef SHA-1: a2c4e0aaf93ce639be911bbc495f2ed09fbdb5de SHA-256: b4897710503ff7fd1f07c8590ef42583fd149b0f6749b56b6aa7a775f90cb49d
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Visual Basic T1059.001 Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious Link: Malicious File

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet. Heuristics indicate the presence of an Auto_Open macro, which is a common technique for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The critical heuristic 'OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN' specifically flags the use of dangerous formula APIs like 'RUN', suggesting the macro is designed to execute arbitrary commands. The document body contains obfuscated text, further supporting a malicious intent. The primary IOC is the Auto_Open macro itself, which triggers the execution chain.

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
0ed0d8b4754d4e125c0124b2c2f01558f982167f1f8a811e61fc423ba9a82e5a
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6787 bytes