Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e7a7496b88be8135…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:41:42 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-07-02
MD5: 2736ec9163d9dd8e467bdad792792942 SHA-1: 5544adff159331006c8d5d3384116bf381fff563 SHA-256: e7a7496b88be81352c3802f4fc4815589ac77ea62c04aefe8c1691e3680635ad
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical indicator of malicious intent. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code. While the exact payload is not clear from the truncated evidence, the mechanism points to a macro-based execution of 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) 6552 bytes
SHA-256: 945767d4f18c65f04e844357ffce9d719621e5d455a00924c37b0f3c9f7e23a6
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     18 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  lcJfVfBpM
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!E144 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - cvjPxR len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DHRfOB len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ECjauXIzI len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eopFhU len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - eQIyazUQEKS len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EraiDlll len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LHoULavJJK len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MJPQpTgrs len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - PSmRqJsFcM len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QOnFLNr len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rRFNSh len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sCuddzBFplPN len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - STqrs len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - SUjZTSXQfTGR len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - uFQFRTr len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - VhoaOKT len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - vqpgDjpw len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XAKBCyHuJ len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xIRKJKg len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - yLcAyvZ 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 L
... (truncated)

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