Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c3e9b749c453687d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:32:39 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-28
MD5: 948559c7cc54c7000786d812aede58d3 SHA-1: 31860ea910fa0bac5be9c00dd3711e7dc07c6d90 SHA-256: c3e9b749c453687dbdd6db83c5f1886b51a600dcf004f7df43b4db14af2f177d
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 indicating automatic execution upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code, likely leading to further exploitation or payload delivery. No specific family could be identified, but the technique is common for initial execution.

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) 6438 bytes
SHA-256: 121e1939d6e62f617e59da74f10ba21906e417eaf1a00e797bb8d4393915b789
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     13 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  AHML
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!D164 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bBlvSpXwEz len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bhePAJO len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BTISOXu len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CpPgbSKq len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dZdmmFsFboI len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ElLGcFLJRXl len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jBXvSKs len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KECydEZiLCID len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - krXpaZkpyPQ len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KyuRUkCty len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lSiktg len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nZwiw len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QIMNWfDUVLBH len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qspwFtixX len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qYrXMufFXHXR len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - reiRSDCOFV len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sJFXNdxiBh len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ulWHMCgfu len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WnXGe len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YlheCbr len=0 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00
... (truncated)

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