XL4Poppy — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c03c137fe1a3a719…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

709.0 KB Created: 1996-10-14 23:33:28 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 3bb1ec7ef718d5a3842bd6c433196979 SHA-1: fe588609ee3383f43a4cec852357c79500e66856 SHA-256: c03c137fe1a3a719b34e377e9e7011705f2b5254a95d6f039b8c276579594685
300 Risk Score

Malware Insights

XL4Poppy · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1059.001 PowerShell T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

This Excel 4.0 (XLM) spreadsheet contains multiple critical heuristic firings indicating it is a legacy macro virus, specifically identified as XL4Poppy and XF.Classic. The embedded macro sheet contains Auto_Open functionality and uses dangerous formula APIs like RUN, suggesting it is designed to execute arbitrary code upon opening. The presence of markers like 'Poppy by VicodinES' and 'The Narkotic Network 1998' further confirms its lineage as a known macro-based threat.

Heuristics 5

  • Excel 4.0 (XLM) Auto_Open + macro sheet critical OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN
    Workbook contains an Auto_Open / Auto_Close defined name together with an Excel 4.0 macro sheet — the canonical XLM auto-execution shape used by malware families such as Emotet and QakBot.
  • 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.
  • Legacy Excel formula macro virus marker critical OLE_XLS_FORMULA_MACRO_VIRUS
    Workbook stream contains self-identifying legacy Excel formula macro virus markers. This indicates the document carries formula macro virus content even when no VBA project or modern XLM macro-sheet structure is present.
  • Legacy XLM macro-virus family marker critical OLE_XLM_LEGACY_MACRO_VIRUS
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro Auto_Open chain and legacy macro-virus family strings. This is a narrow indicator for infected XLM workbooks rather than ordinary formula use.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
0e2cae768ef2e5a76c4517ed138192a39a8af2320a404efb81ec822667cf5ad2		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 189412 bytes

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