Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 eaf9a83a88d6a836…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

325.0 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:17:20 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2020-09-15
MD5: 53f2506400e1a4fb86853a0b8baf4463 SHA-1: 909c32831b56a7c484d0ec2dc7729db97f2dfcd0 SHA-256: eaf9a83a88d6a836a92b3666090fa839ee880f8784b90e636c4ed8f22c725d07
180 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled document containing an Auto_Open macro. The document body prompts the user to enable editing and content, which would trigger the execution of the macro. The macro sheet contains dangerous functions and environment evasion techniques, indicating malicious intent to download and execute a payload.

Heuristics 4

  • 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 HALT gate high OLE_XLM_ENVIRONMENT_EVASION_HALT
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet auto-executes multiple GET.WORKSPACE / GET.WINDOW environment checks and halts execution when the host does not match the expected user environment. This is a common sandbox-evasion pattern in XLM malware and is stronger than a bare XLM macro-sheet indicator.
  • 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) 427016 bytes
SHA-256: 29220e1accda6ae957b75ba4fa41a33d891305d1d06af53cd2e02a1608a4056b
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     13 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  m0UK
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open hidden len=7 ptgNameX  NAMEIDX 9 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CHkyMJxyr len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - dZnSUunHXuS len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - FKnYgW len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - gJeVWzdQ len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GxqUhgW len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HUgQLOiXyRU len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JJejEpinaz len=0 
' 0018     28 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant -        hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!EY6004 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lNcCsnr len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - piPcqZknzW len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - pREXMvKV len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QASNRY len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - rTdeOC len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tGbXB len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - wsKJzieeWJZO len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XxQRZyuxNvjo 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
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELS
... (truncated)