Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 b823e608057f614e…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:47:06 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 85d73cc340e0b0566795e0dd900a70c3 SHA-1: ba1f8c1d327013b9ca41cff2f37d3d38190712fb SHA-256: b823e608057f614ecf38ac1a14049fcea7795bf462bfdfa561114b3d8a00901b
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding. This indicates the macro sheet is configured to automatically execute code upon opening, likely to exploit vulnerabilities or download further malicious content. The presence of dangerous formula APIs further supports this malicious intent.

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
3927938e9c42be6bc12f2c8eb6c10bc4042cbac1285f40621f923b6e3d9f5e4d		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6368 bytes

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