Autophyte
Overview
Executive Summary
Autophyte is a classic, legacy Macro Virus specifically designed to infect Microsoft Office documents (primarily Word and Excel). Operating entirely within the context of the Office application, Autophyte utilizes Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to replicate itself, sabotage documents, and spread rapidly across an organization via shared files and email attachments.Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities
Autophyte spreads through the sharing of infected `.doc` or `.xls` files. When a user opens an infected document and enables macros, the virus executes its payload. Once active, Autophyte leverages the powerful VBA environment:- Global Template Infection: The virus's primary objective is persistence. It immediately copies its malicious macro code into the global Office template file (e.g., `Normal.dot` in Word). Once the global template is infected, every new document created or opened by the user is automatically infected with the virus.
- Stealth and Evasion: To prevent detection by the user, Autophyte often disables the macro security warning prompts (by modifying Office registry keys) and intercepts commands like `Tools -> Macro`, preventing the user from viewing or deleting the malicious code.
- Vandalism/Payload: While the primary function is propagation, variants of Autophyte may include destructive payloads, such as randomly altering text, deleting data within the document, or executing external system commands upon the trigger of a specific date or event.
Threat Assessment
While legacy macro viruses like Autophyte are largely mitigated by the default security settings in modern versions of Microsoft Office (which disable macros by default and utilize `.docx`/`.xlsx` formats that cannot contain code), they remain a threat in environments utilizing outdated software or where users are routinely tricked into enabling macros via social engineering.Incident Response and Remediation
- Enforce Macro Security Policies: The definitive defense against macro viruses is strict Group Policy enforcement. Organizations must disable VBA macros by default, or explicitly require that all macros be digitally signed by a trusted internal certificate authority before execution.
- Template Remediation: To clean an infected machine, the user must close all Office applications, locate the corrupted global template file (`Normal.dot` or `Normal.dotm`), and delete it. Microsoft Office will generate a fresh, clean template the next time the application is launched.
- Document Scanning: Utilize enterprise antivirus solutions to scan file shares and email servers to quarantine any legacy `.doc` or `.xls` files containing the malicious Autophyte macro code.
Known aliases
Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1566.001 T1059.005 T1137.001
Tactical Mitigations
Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:
- T1059.005: Restrict execution of scripting languages such as PowerShell, VBScript, or Python to authorized administrators. Enforce Script Block Logging.
- T1566.001: Scan email attachments for malicious macros, scripts, or suspicious archive files.
Generated Detections (Boilerplate)
These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.
YARA Rule
rule MALWARE_WIN_AUTOPHYTE {
meta:
description = "Detects Autophyte (advanced_threat)"
author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
date = "2026-07-06"
strings:
$s1 = "autophyte" ascii wide nocase
$s2 = "macro.word.autophyte" ascii wide nocase
$s3 = "w97m.autophyte" ascii wide nocase
$s4 = "virus.msword.autophyte" ascii wide nocase
condition:
uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}Sigma Rule
title: Suspicious Autophyte Activity
id: ba9603427321d2e194921d8b6a06c97a
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the autophyte malware family.
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
Image|endswith:
- '\cmd.exe'
- '\powershell.exe'
CommandLine|contains:
- "*autophyte*"
- "*macro.word.autophyte*"
- "*w97m.autophyte*"
- "*virus.msword.autophyte*"
condition: selection
level: mediumReferences & External Analysis
- Search "autophyte" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I remove the Autophyte Advanced_Threat from Windows?
Manual removal of Autophyte is highly discouraged as it may leave persistence mechanisms intact. We recommend disconnecting the device from the internet and utilizing a professional incident response service or enterprise-grade EDR software to conduct a full forensic sweep.
Is Autophyte a virus or a Advanced_Threat?
Autophyte is classified as a Advanced_Threat. Unlike traditional viruses that infect files, modern malware like Autophyte typically operates as a standalone payload designed to compromise systems, steal data, or deploy secondary stage implants.
What are the main symptoms of a Autophyte infection?
Symptoms of Autophyte can include unexpected system slowness, unauthorized outbound network traffic to unknown IP addresses, disabled security software, and suspicious background processes running from AppData or Temp directories.
Related Families (Category: advanced_threat)
Explore other malware families in the same category:
Protect Your Network Against Advanced_Threats
Want to prevent Autophyte and similar threats from compromising your organization? Read our comprehensive defensive guide: Suspect an Infection? What to do.
Machine-readable
Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/autophyte.json
Ecosystem & Interactive Environments
This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.