Malicious Office (OLE) / .XLS — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 fd50b9b5d82c4959…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

68.0 KB Created: 2020-09-20 21:17:44
MD5: 634eacb0beee2cde9a9f356bf0993071 SHA-1: 6cb9af64cb0c86ca2238e01d1452b9d6513b7ea3 SHA-256: fd50b9b5d82c4959266d9b6b1eecce513a3822c2642a47d3c1c1711da3e11b19
60 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1059.001 PowerShell

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet. Heuristics indicate the presence of an Auto_Open macro that uses dangerous formula APIs, specifically the RUN function, which is highly indicative of malicious intent to execute arbitrary code. The embedded URL, although labeled benign, is likely part of the execution chain. The macro sheet's structure and the use of XLM functions suggest a downloader or initial execution stage.

Heuristics 3

  • XLM Auto_Open with dangerous formula APIs high 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.
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL https://cutt.ly/FhlfqIa

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
c351b3cb61b4a92bfc2f9b5949049986fe3abcbe5224cdd3ecf341ed58efe6a6
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 1599 bytes