Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e587a060f7c30890…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:43:19 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-12-25
MD5: a8bb7a6efbafcd1f37dfdd5980664539 SHA-1: 80fc8af38250516a0f4f2b3f292c9750995c4470 SHA-256: e587a060f7c30890132d68b88b21f91630ea04631841419b21f67094ba732606
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, indicated by the OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN and OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN heuristics. The presence of an Auto_Open defined name suggests the macros are intended to run automatically when the workbook is opened. The dangerous formula APIs used in the macro further support the malicious intent, likely to download and execute a second-stage payload.

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) 6802 bytes
SHA-256: a782a2ffe7092f4ff031477095a941822cadf0386f62b41dc2816f90e48fe37a
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     17 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  qacWagrE
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!I183 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cKZqaq len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dZFaJYj len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EIYnWKQYwPrt len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EJquaLWYDZj len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - fPYjZSo len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FtLCCRaGsbmj len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GWahXZSE len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hfusbPaFHACA len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HmVmX len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hnCLkxQllI len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - kkcikXOwYDw len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KSFOODDIqkh len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lLynrIlPgbn len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - meMpVoMUkMo len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MiumzXV len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NkmKiIBUvjZB len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - OhONNCVi len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qAdZYXzBRJA len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zHXEQU len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZMIfBIaNqV 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 Cons
... (truncated)

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