Xls.Dropper.Agent — Office (OLE) malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 d584a370f4e27310…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

198.5 KB Created: 2020-07-14 04:14:49 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-07
MD5: ce282d43e94e61a1a425cd1b0bb61aaf SHA-1: 1c138aad9dd01f7069e682da3162878ff1ffb24d SHA-256: d584a370f4e27310aa842f83b35ea337e560c2308537c5113acb48a9187ee762
280 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Xls.Dropper.Agent · confidence 95%

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros with an Auto_Open entry, a critical finding indicating potential malicious execution. Heuristics also point to dangerous formula APIs and environment evasion, consistent with a dropper. ClamAV detection further supports this, identifying it as Xls.Dropper.Agent. The presence of an Auto_Open macro suggests the intent is to automatically execute a secondary payload upon opening the document.

Heuristics 6

  • ClamAV: Xls.Dropper.Agent-8840636-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Dropper.Agent-8840636-0
  • 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.
  • XLM Auto_Open environment-evasion close gate critical OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_CLOSE
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes environment checks with GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW, then shows a fake corruption/error message and closes the workbook when the host fails those checks. This is a malware sandbox-evasion pattern, even when the later payload stage is hidden behind obfuscated defined-name flow.
  • 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 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 77562 bytes
SHA-256: 4a90fe833583921de4d17e3f7733bb5755a85de21884c9499bf0fc2a4ce885ac
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     10 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  v
' 0085     17 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  wRvUlxmj
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet1
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet2
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aHkBhnH len=0 
' 0018     64 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aHPQOTExFivuLPSJixqaIKfIMakFTGsTpoRxQCGfGRLdawTrj len=0 
' 0018     64 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aoyhhUUvERsMrQhtifZroLuGMITklHISpWzQvDWeTyuusxjcj len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  v!DZ20620 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aXtPot len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - azPHrZb len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bMtvQsxMW len=0 
' 0018     17 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BN len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BPZtIuhIed len=0 
' 0018     31 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bXjBPXYhFzdfMSlt len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cCeKHp len=0 
' 0018     49 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cCRJtbdybftEYmZMmJIkRiVZyZkewtQmLD len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Cdcsil len=0 
' 0018     43 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cdyzKhOrHnuNVLqlmkpaUbFgRhlo len=0 
' 0018     32 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CjlGinBMgthTuRQrZ len=0 
' 0018     60 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ClhWqgXlveeREeBOcKbNRqfcWolIeDJFQUiEGPYTwNfzT len=0 
' 0018     38 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - coRkQoGSGExQNjTekgrJKfg len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CPOeikcC len=0 
' 0018     53 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cpoFILDbqjTBEYBFTdyMylNjhKrJuyZyKEWTqM len=0 
' 0018     52 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CQaJJviJfsHoGrvVKHBTQmJhnjuyNiktDxbrK len=0 
' 0018     50 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CsShaKruPrvKGoDccDMYBUzXpPpBuNwTDNT len=0 
' 0018
... (truncated)