Is there a way to crack the password on an Excel VBA Project?

You can try this direct VBA approach which doesn’t require HEX editing. It will work for any files (*.xls, *.xlsm, *.xlam …).

Tested and works on:

Excel 2007
Excel 2010
Excel 2013 – 32 bit version
Excel 2016 – 32 bit version

Looking for 64 bit version? See this answer

How it works

I will try my best to explain how it works – please excuse my English.

  1. The VBE will call a system function to create the password dialog box.
  2. If user enters the right password and click OK, this function returns 1. If user enters the wrong password or click Cancel, this function returns 0.
  3. After the dialog box is closed, the VBE checks the returned value of the system function
  4. if this value is 1, the VBE will “think” that the password is right, hence the locked VBA project will be opened.
  5. The code below swaps the memory of the original function used to display the password dialog with a user defined function that will always return 1 when being called.

Using the code

Please backup your files first!

  1. Open the file(s) that contain your locked VBA Projects
  2. Create a new xlsm file and store this code in Module1code credited to Siwtom (nick name), a Vietnamese developerOption Explicit Private Const PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE = &H40 Private Declare Sub MoveMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" _ (Destination As Long, Source As Long, ByVal Length As Long) Private Declare Function VirtualProtect Lib "kernel32" (lpAddress As Long, _ ByVal dwSize As Long, ByVal flNewProtect As Long, lpflOldProtect As Long) As Long Private Declare Function GetModuleHandleA Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpModuleName As String) As Long Private Declare Function GetProcAddress Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hModule As Long, _ ByVal lpProcName As String) As Long Private Declare Function DialogBoxParam Lib "user32" Alias "DialogBoxParamA" (ByVal hInstance As Long, _ ByVal pTemplateName As Long, ByVal hWndParent As Long, _ ByVal lpDialogFunc As Long, ByVal dwInitParam As Long) As Integer Dim HookBytes(0 To 5) As Byte Dim OriginBytes(0 To 5) As Byte Dim pFunc As Long Dim Flag As Boolean Private Function GetPtr(ByVal Value As Long) As Long GetPtr = Value End Function Public Sub RecoverBytes() If Flag Then MoveMemory ByVal pFunc, ByVal VarPtr(OriginBytes(0)), 6 End Sub Public Function Hook() As Boolean Dim TmpBytes(0 To 5) As Byte Dim p As Long Dim OriginProtect As Long Hook = False pFunc = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandleA("user32.dll"), "DialogBoxParamA") If VirtualProtect(ByVal pFunc, 6, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE, OriginProtect) <> 0 Then MoveMemory ByVal VarPtr(TmpBytes(0)), ByVal pFunc, 6 If TmpBytes(0) <> &H68 Then MoveMemory ByVal VarPtr(OriginBytes(0)), ByVal pFunc, 6 p = GetPtr(AddressOf MyDialogBoxParam) HookBytes(0) = &H68 MoveMemory ByVal VarPtr(HookBytes(1)), ByVal VarPtr(p), 4 HookBytes(5) = &HC3 MoveMemory ByVal pFunc, ByVal VarPtr(HookBytes(0)), 6 Flag = True Hook = True End If End If End Function Private Function MyDialogBoxParam(ByVal hInstance As Long, _ ByVal pTemplateName As Long, ByVal hWndParent As Long, _ ByVal lpDialogFunc As Long, ByVal dwInitParam As Long) As Integer If pTemplateName = 4070 Then MyDialogBoxParam = 1 Else RecoverBytes MyDialogBoxParam = DialogBoxParam(hInstance, pTemplateName, _ hWndParent, lpDialogFunc, dwInitParam) Hook End If End Function
  3. Paste this code under the above code in Module1 and run itSub unprotected() If Hook Then MsgBox "VBA Project is unprotected!", vbInformation, "*****" End If End Sub
  4. Come back to your VBA Projects and enjoy.

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