Malicious Office (OLE) / .XLSX — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 cdfff00686ad846d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

31.0 KB Created: 2021-01-25 15:45:46 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 5bde4c78217e2ef0be718558e3185d65 SHA-1: 5ebc66cc2f878d597a85bf4fb0c91879e436d9ff SHA-256: cdfff00686ad846d568a8596af35e2be602d2756bb138aad4c3260419eb34b04
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, indicated by the OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN and OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN heuristics. The document body presents a lure to the user, instructing them to 'Enable Editing' and 'Enable Content' to view the content. The presence of an Auto_Open macro and the use of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggest that the macro is designed to execute automatically upon opening the document after macros are enabled. No specific IOCs were extracted beyond the macro sheet itself.

Heuristics 4

  • 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.
  • Macro/content-enable lure medium SE_ENABLE_LURE
    Document instructs the user to enable macros or editing — a common technique used by malware droppers to bypass Office macro security settings

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
8ddc10735c54ef5d6bbd6bf3a7048511a755d8dc85206c2ec0ac7d795b63af89
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 3317 bytes