Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 fa3b45eb59d588fd…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-25 10:38:17 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-23
MD5: 0c37959e71a3cea1e42c68678565a82d SHA-1: 6d844caa6b0af79ddbe7dc800dcb92413dd2ccfb SHA-256: fa3b45eb59d588fd7e787dd6876ffe591826f7c9ba730d3c603421bc47d86727
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding indicating automatic execution upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN suggests the macro is designed to execute arbitrary commands. While no specific URLs or hashes were extracted, the technique strongly implies the 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) 6497 bytes
SHA-256: 772537bdc944d05b4040e208377db7204291df694e9ea81c7608771146ebcf01
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     12 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  YYF
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aBmYIQMz len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!A173 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - BDATjFW len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bfGzMYfm len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bsPNbPDvS len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CkLRTOMr len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DJswVmW len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HkOdWU len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IfmpRnQjmSGB len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KXpXRAyBN len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ljCLSZHG len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - lrPlNJjZa len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mBlsor len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MUIMPzC len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - NSYBkbulWRY len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - sEtHblUvlL len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xynONZGmofG len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YBZWlIuU len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YJyBnixfcFO len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YPRxyDVu len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zvdaRrW 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
... (truncated)

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