oletools is a package of python tools to analyze Microsoft OLE2 files (also called Structured Storage, Compound File Binary Format or Compound Document File Format), such as Microsoft Office 97-2003 documents, MSI files or Outlook messages, mainly for malware analysis, forensics and debugging. It is based on the olefile parser.
It also provides tools to analyze RTF files and files based on the OpenXML format (aka OOXML) such as MS Office 2007+ documents, XPS or MSIX files.
For example, oletools can detect, extract and analyse VBA macros, OLE objects, Excel 4 macros (XLM) and DDE links.
See http://www.decalage.info/python/oletools for more info.
Quick links: Home page - Download/Install - Documentation - Report Issues/Suggestions/Questions - Contact the Author - Repository - Updates on Twitter Cheatsheet
Note: python-oletools is not related to OLETools published by BeCubed Software.
See the full changelog for more information.
oletools are used by a number of projects and online malware analysis services, including ACE, ADAPT, Anlyz.io, AssemblyLine, Binary Refinery, CAPE, CinCan, Cortex XSOAR (Palo Alto), Cuckoo Sandbox, DARKSURGEON, Deepviz, DIARIO, dridex.malwareconfig.com, EML Analyzer, EXPMON, FAME, FLARE-VM, GLIMPS Malware, Hybrid-analysis.com, InQuest Labs, IntelOwl, Joe Sandbox, Laika BOSS, MacroMilter, mailcow, malshare.io, malware-repo, Malware Repository Framework (MRF), MalwareBazaar, olefy, Pandora, PeekabooAV, pcodedmp, PyCIRCLean, QFlow, Qu1cksc0pe, Tylabs QuickSand, REMnux, Snake, SNDBOX, Splunk add-on for MS O365 Email, SpuriousEmu, Strelka, stoQ, Sublime Platform/MQL, Subparse, TheHive/Cortex, ThreatBoook, TSUGURI Linux, Vba2Graph, Viper, ViperMonkey, YOMI, and probably VirusTotal, FileScan.IO. And quite a few other projects on GitHub. (Please contact me if you have or know a project using oletools)
The recommended way to download and install/update the latest stable release of oletools is to use pip:
sudo -H pip install -U oletools[full]
pip install -U oletools[full]
This should automatically create command-line scripts to run each tool from
any directory: olevba
, mraptor
, rtfobj
, etc.
The keyword [full]
means that all optional dependencies will be installed, such as XLMMacroDeobfuscator.
If you prefer a lighter version without optional dependencies, just remove [full]
from the command line.
To get the latest development version instead:
sudo -H pip install -U https://github.com/decalage2/oletools/archive/master.zip
pip install -U https://github.com/decalage2/oletools/archive/master.zip
See the documentation for other installation options.
The latest version of the documentation can be found online, otherwise a copy is provided in the doc subfolder of the package.
This is a personal open-source project, developed on my spare time. Any contribution, suggestion, feedback or bug report is welcome.
To suggest improvements, report a bug or any issue, please use the issue reporting page, providing all the information and files to reproduce the problem.
You may also contact the author directly to provide feedback.
The code is available in a GitHub repository. You may use it to submit enhancements using forks and pull requests.
This license applies to the python-oletools package, apart from the thirdparty folder which contains third-party files published with their own license.
The python-oletools package is copyright (c) 2012-2024 Philippe Lagadec (http://www.decalage.info)
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
olevba contains modified source code from the officeparser project, published under the following MIT License (MIT):
officeparser is copyright (c) 2014 John William Davison
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.