Malicious Office (OOXML) / .XLSM — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 d512da174ec6334b…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

84.2 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 14.0300
MD5: db24840f9854474b4b86864c3a8414e0 SHA-1: 80eb18f4757a74547a60937e35b356af662f5d9e SHA-256: d512da174ec6334bfafc3f95c04e7f6ad4a3e2eb7abe731dc5a096c499cd1f31
180 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

This Excel macro-enabled document utilizes Excel 4.0 macros, specifically employing dangerous functions like CALL and EXEC. These functions are used to download and execute a second-stage payload from a list of provided URLs. The presence of the Auto_Open defined name indicates that the malicious macros will execute automatically upon opening the document.

Heuristics 4

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical 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: CALL, EXEC, FORMULA.FILL, HALT 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.
  • 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://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
6bb1fa7b25c4a31dd2d66243f24bc2b4809a5ecf6b1ca9480c724b6e46bd7687
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 238359 bytes