Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 cd3461042a124cc8…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:41:14 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-06-20
MD5: 50511c4c12dc65b699ad18c5dbf76ebd SHA-1: 7cd7d4059a94fa12c60afd3143ef2516632f5d8a SHA-256: cd3461042a124cc89c613902672d0b18b4adeb91e27014b0f98751e98f557893
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 designed to automatically execute code upon opening the workbook. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN further suggests the intent to execute arbitrary commands or payloads. Without further script content, the exact payload is unknown, but the mechanism points to a macro-based 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) 6621 bytes
SHA-256: 605cc26815f22311400c1c9c47b314bb828f4157dd61130ec63186d418a954aa
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 -  kRlQz
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!A137 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BLDZUDQGxJP len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BlShneAr len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GtBaSiwnTXg len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IBeLOFdW len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - iVhbVDml len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jNRAjiOCdF len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KyqxTPk len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nFtaq len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oPKKCrgrp len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - oyhwaqy len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PawRhQrLDeWW len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Pwnxs len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RaNFT len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rNZayx len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uwhbVcKOFvCV len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wWWCN len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xDsSxwetDTe len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xXgGKUTdWV len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZDRBQNJtCefL len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZveuMXbU 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
' 00fd     
... (truncated)

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