Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e7d101a06cf6c526…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:40:21 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a16a4082e26c22bd1cb1d9ddb3f6bbd3 SHA-1: 8369baa488206aade0d4a76b33477f1989202216 SHA-256: e7d101a06cf6c526fe5e591277f36750b738ba5eaa72a1e90cfcba1c41bfc370
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 function, which is a known method for executing malicious code within older Excel versions. The critical heuristics indicate the presence of dangerous formula APIs within the Auto_Open macro, suggesting it's designed to run arbitrary commands. No specific URLs or network indicators were extracted, but the presence of the Auto_Open macro is a strong indicator of malicious intent.

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
62afd3a1b07833a495b4576722a2203a77a3918bb8cf1a0d2e90676d98d7664b
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6405 bytes