Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 b80d2c4fc4546ad4…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:25:51 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: f61d7463073fc75285e0f31f48837432 SHA-1: c576b9c4b6d119b46d41eedc3d35f55400149f86 SHA-256: b80d2c4fc4546ad46c442ab0a3c6f2ba43b7895c21ec152f0bff1d20d2e3ef4f
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

This Excel file contains Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open function, which is a known method for executing malicious code. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN indicates an intent to execute arbitrary commands. The macro sheet itself is obfuscated, suggesting an attempt to hide its malicious 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
a03e5744ecf0f72f884bfac1dcfd70ff14cbb9745bbab6aca0fa4a9d93ee4c56		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6634 bytes

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