Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 d662afb47b15b3ab…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

239.0 KB Created: 2020-07-14 12:41:48 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-07
MD5: 0ca850310929b0278af6a6324348d71f SHA-1: 771ef60483ffaf705097e6199ad9f7c9b2e94615 SHA-256: d662afb47b15b3abdf30e0bcc68ba7fdbf966ab8b0a5d95a122eb9636bcf1da2
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.005 Visual Basic

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening the document. The document body displays a "protected document" lure, instructing the user to "Enable Editing" and "Enable Content" to view the content, which is a common social engineering tactic to bypass security warnings and execute the embedded macro. The presence of the Auto_Open macro and the social engineering lure strongly suggest a malicious intent to execute arbitrary commands.

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) 226489 bytes
SHA-256: 89aaa7447852608ab618c8d74e6f89985834611465c769ba1eee931c52a2ee7d
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 - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  DAPJM
' 0085     11 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  KR
' 0085     11 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  ul
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open hidden len=7 ptgNameX  NAMEIDX 3 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CtUAk len=0 
' 0018     30 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant -          hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!HO2783 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dQuDaB len=0 
' 0018     19 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fEKI len=0 
' 0018     19 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HdMm len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HtyGxHxW len=0 
' 0018     19 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NvvZ len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Ovccdu len=0 
' 0018     18 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - RFb len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tFvkeh len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - WpEmntd len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YdIhrW 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     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/
... (truncated)