AN0036: Analytic 0036
Opening of Office files where VBA source code appears benign or missing, but p-code remains active. Defender perspective: process execution of Office apps with macro execution lacking visible source components.
Analyst context for executives and security teams
This analytic matters because it points to a macro visibility gap on macOS: an Office document may appear to have benign or missing VBA source, while compiled p-code remains active. For leaders, the decision issue is whether security teams can validate macro execution behavior rather than relying only on visible macro source review.
Executive priority
Prioritize this as a control-validation and audit-evidence question for macOS Office environments. Ask whether endpoint monitoring, document handling controls, and incident response playbooks can identify Office macro execution when source code inspection is incomplete or misleading. This is especially relevant for resilience against document-borne execution paths and for proving that macro risk is governed beyond policy statements.
Technical view
For SOC and detection teams, validate visibility into Office application process execution on macOS and whether macro execution can be observed when VBA source components are absent or appear benign. Because ATT&CK provides no official detection logic or tactic mapping for this analytic, teams should treat it as a detection engineering requirement: confirm available telemetry, define expected Office behavior, and investigate Office document openings that lead to macro-capable execution without matching visible source indicators.
Likely telemetry
- macOS endpoint process execution events for Office applications
- Office document open events where available
- Macro execution indicators or Office application scripting/activity logs where available
- File metadata for Office documents, including embedded macro-related components where collected
- Endpoint security alerts or EDR observations involving Office application child processes or unusual execution behavior
Detection direction
- Validate that macOS Office process execution is collected with enough detail to distinguish normal document opening from macro-related activity.
- Do not rely solely on visible VBA source review as a detection control; this analytic specifically concerns cases where source appears benign or missing while p-code remains active.
- Establish environment-specific baselines for legitimate Office macro use to reduce false positives from authorized business macros.
- Correlate document opening, Office process activity, and any macro execution indicators before escalating, since no ATT&CK-provided detection logic or relationship context is supplied.
- Document blind spots where Office macro execution is not observable on macOS endpoints.
Mitigation priorities
- Inventory macOS systems where Office documents and macros are used for business workflows.
- Review and enforce macro governance policies appropriate to business need, including restrictions where macros are not required.
- Ensure endpoint monitoring covers Office process execution and related macro activity on macOS.
- Update incident response procedures to account for Office files whose visible VBA source does not explain observed execution behavior.
- Maintain audit evidence showing macro policy, monitoring coverage, and exception handling for approved macro-dependent workflows.
Analyst notes and limits
The supplied ATT&CK object is a detection analytic, not a technique, and has no tactic mapping or relationship context. The key defensive value is highlighting a review and telemetry blind spot around Office macro behavior on macOS when compiled p-code remains active despite benign or missing visible VBA source.
Official detection content is not provided, and no relationships, threat groups, software, campaigns, mitigations, or data components were supplied. Local validation is required to determine whether relevant Office, endpoint, and macro telemetry exists and whether the behavior is meaningful in the organization’s macOS estate.
Analytic 0036
Opening of Office files where VBA source code appears benign or missing, but p-code remains active. Defender perspective: process execution of Office apps with macro execution lacking visible source components.
How security teams should use this page
Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.
All related ATT&CK context
No relationships are available in the current normalized data for this object.
Object version and sync metadata
The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates .
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases (1)
| Release | Bundle imported | Object version | Modified | Status | Raw hash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.1 | 1.0 | Current bundle | 63f98025fc3d… |
Mirrored ATT&CK source object
The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.
External references and citations
MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.
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mitre-attack AN0036Open source URL
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