Yes there is, as long as you are using a .xls format spreadsheet (the default for Excel up to 2003). For Excel 2007 onwards, the default is .xlsx, which is a fairly secure format, and this method will not work.

As Treb says, it's a simple comparison. One method is to simply swap out the password entry in the file using a hex editor (see Hex editors for Windows). Step by step example:

1. Create a new simple excel file.
2. In the VBA part, set a simple password (say - 1234).
3. Save the file and exit. Then check the file size - see Stewbob's gotcha
4. Open the file you just created with a hex editor.

5. Copy the lines starting with the following keys:

   CMG=....
   DPB=...
   GC=...
   

6. FIRST BACKUP the excel file you don't know the VBA password for, then open it with your hex editor, and paste the above copied lines from the dummy file.

7. Save the excel file and exit.
8. Now, open the excel file you need to see the VBA code in. The password for the VBA code will simply be 1234 (as in the example I'm showing here).

If you need to work with Excel 2007 or 2010, there are some other answers below which might help, particularly these: 1, 2, 3.

EDIT Feb 2015: for another method that looks very promising, look at this new answer by Đức Thanh Nguyễn.

With my turn, this is built upon kaybee99's excellent answer which is built upon Đức Thanh Nguyễn's fantastic answer to allow this method to work with both x86 and amd64 versions of Office.

An overview of what is changed, we avoid push/ret which is limited to 32bit addresses and replace it with mov/jmp reg.

Tested and works on

Word/Excel 2016 - 32 bit version.
Word/Excel 2016 - 64 bit version.

how it works

1. Open the file(s) that contain your locked VBA Projects.

2. Create a new file with the same type as the above and store this code in Module1

   Option Explicit
   
   Private Const PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE = &H40
   
   Private Declare PtrSafe Sub MoveMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" _
   (Destination As LongPtr, Source As LongPtr, ByVal Length As LongPtr)
   
   Private Declare PtrSafe Function VirtualProtect Lib "kernel32" (lpAddress As LongPtr, _
   ByVal dwSize As LongPtr, ByVal flNewProtect As LongPtr, lpflOldProtect As LongPtr) As LongPtr
   
   Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetModuleHandleA Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpModuleName As String) As LongPtr
   
   Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetProcAddress Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hModule As LongPtr, _
   ByVal lpProcName As String) As LongPtr
   
   Private Declare PtrSafe Function DialogBoxParam Lib "user32" Alias "DialogBoxParamA" (ByVal hInstance As LongPtr, _
   ByVal pTemplateName As LongPtr, ByVal hWndParent As LongPtr, _
   ByVal lpDialogFunc As LongPtr, ByVal dwInitParam As LongPtr) As Integer
   
   Dim HookBytes(0 To 11) As Byte
   Dim OriginBytes(0 To 11) As Byte
   Dim pFunc As LongPtr
   Dim Flag As Boolean
   
   Private Function GetPtr(ByVal Value As LongPtr) As LongPtr
       GetPtr = Value
   End Function
   
   Public Sub RecoverBytes()
       If Flag Then MoveMemory ByVal pFunc, ByVal VarPtr(OriginBytes(0)), 12
   End Sub
   
   Public Function Hook() As Boolean
       Dim TmpBytes(0 To 11) As Byte
       Dim p As LongPtr, osi As Byte
       Dim OriginProtect As LongPtr
   
       Hook = False
   
       #If Win64 Then
           osi = 1
       #Else
           osi = 0
       #End If
   
       pFunc = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandleA("user32.dll"), "DialogBoxParamA")
   
       If VirtualProtect(ByVal pFunc, 12, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE, OriginProtect) <> 0 Then
   
           MoveMemory ByVal VarPtr(TmpBytes(0)), ByVal pFunc, osi+1
           If TmpBytes(osi) <> &HB8 Then
   
               MoveMemory ByVal VarPtr(OriginBytes(0)), ByVal pFunc, 12
   
               p = GetPtr(AddressOf MyDialogBoxParam)
   
               If osi Then HookBytes(0) = &H48
               HookBytes(osi) = &HB8
               osi = osi + 1
               MoveMemory ByVal VarPtr(HookBytes(osi)), ByVal VarPtr(p), 4 * osi
               HookBytes(osi + 4 * osi) = &HFF
               HookBytes(osi + 4 * osi + 1) = &HE0
   
               MoveMemory ByVal pFunc, ByVal VarPtr(HookBytes(0)), 12
               Flag = True
               Hook = True
           End If
       End If
   End Function
   
   Private Function MyDialogBoxParam(ByVal hInstance As LongPtr, _
   ByVal pTemplateName As LongPtr, ByVal hWndParent As LongPtr, _
   ByVal lpDialogFunc As LongPtr, ByVal dwInitParam As LongPtr) 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 in Module2 and run it

   Sub unprotected()
       If Hook Then
           MsgBox "VBA Project is unprotected!", vbInformation, "*****"
       End If
   End Sub
   

Colin Pickard has an excellent answer, but there is one 'watch out' with this. There are instances (I haven't figured out the cause yet) where the total length of the "CMG=........GC=...." entry in the file is different from one excel file to the next. In some cases, this entry will be 137 bytes, and in others it will be 143 bytes. The 137 byte length is the odd one, and if this happens when you create your file with the '1234' password, just create another file, and it should jump to the 143 byte length.

If you try to paste the wrong number of bytes into the file, you will lose your VBA project when you try to open the file with Excel.

EDIT

This is not valid for Excel 2007/2010 files. The standard .xlsx file format is actually a .zip file containing numerous sub-folders with the formatting, layout, content, etc, stored as xml data. For an unprotected Excel 2007 file, you can just change the .xlsx extension to .zip, then open the zip file and look through all the xml data. It's very straightforward.

However, when you password protect an Excel 2007 file, the entire .zip (.xlsx) file is actually encrypted using RSA encryption. It is no longer possible to change the extension to .zip and browse the file contents.

VBA Project Passwords on Access, Excel, Powerpoint, or Word documents (2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016 versions with extensions .ACCDB .XLSM .XLTM .DOCM .DOTM .POTM .PPSM) can be easily removed.

It's simply a matter of changing the filename extension to .ZIP, unzipping the file, and using any basic Hex Editor (like XVI32) to "break" the existing password, which "confuses" Office so it prompts for a new password next time the file is opened.

A summary of the steps:

• rename the file so it has a .ZIP extension.
• open the ZIP and go to the XL folder.
• extract vbaProject.bin and open it with a Hex Editor
• "Search & Replace" to "replace all" changing DPB to DPX.
• Save changes, place the .bin file back into the zip, return it to it's normal extension and open the file like normal.
• ALT+F11 to enter the VB Editor and right-click in the Project Explorer to choose VBA Project Properties.
• On the Protection tab, Set a new password.
• Click OK, Close the file, Re-open it, hit ALT+F11.
• Enter the new password that you set.

At this point you can remove the password completely if you choose to.

Complete instructions with a step-by-step video I made "way back when" are on YouTube here.

It's kind of shocking that this workaround has been out there for years, and Microsoft hasn't fixed the issue.

The moral of the story?

Microsoft Office VBA Project passwords are not to be relied upon for security of any sensitive information. If security is important, use third-party encryption software.

The truth is that the code files for most macro-enabled Office documents are not encrypted and the password only prevents opening the project with Office programs. This means that, as other answers suggested, you can usually use an Office alternative to access and edit the file.

However, if you just need access to the code, you can use a tool like oledump.py to extract the Macro code. This is useful for malware analysis, as well as getting most of the code from the file so that you don't have to start from scratch if you forget the password.

In addition, many excel files dynamically set the password when the file is opened. This means that if you can read the code, you can usually find the password in plaintext or de-obfuscate it.

oledump.py Examples:

List all "streams" (embedded binary or code files) within an office document:

python oledump.py -v yourExcelFile.xlsm

Output:

A: xl/vbaProject.bin
 A1:      2000 'PROJECT'
 A2:      1500 'PROJECTwm'
 A3: M    1224 'VBA/Module1'
 A4: M   18694 'VBA/Module2'
 A5: M   11877 'VBA/Module3'
...

Streams with an M next to them are macros, which is unencrypted VBA code

Extract a stream

python oledump.py -s A3 -v yourExcelFile.xlsm > Module1.vba

This will output the code contained in the A3 stream to Module1.vba.

I usually combine this with a loop to extract all files to a folder. This quick PowerShell script will extract all streams in most files:

New-Item -ItemType Directory "Output"

# just hardcode the highest stream outputted by oledump.py -v
$max = 5 
for ($i = 1; $i -le $max; $i++) {
    python oledump.py -s "A$i" -v yourExcelFile.xlsm > ".\Output\A$i"
}

Note that this will only extract human-readable files.

The accepted answer didn't work in Excel 2019 on Windows 10. Found out the extra steps we need to take to see the locked macro. I am summarizing the steps.

1. Add a .zip to the end of the excel filename and hit enter

2. Once the file has been changed to a ZIP file, open it by double clicking on it

3. Inside you would see a folder called xl like below

4. Inside xl, you'll find a file called vbaProject.bin, copy/paste it on the desktop

5. Go to the online Hexadecimal Editor HexEd.it

6. Search for the following texts DPB=... and change them to DPx=...

7. Save the file and close HexEd.it

8. Copy/Paste the updated file from your desktop inside the ZIP file (you would need to overwrite it)

9. Remove the .zip extension from the end of the filename and add the excel extention again.

10. Open the file in excel - you may receive a couple of error notifications, just click through them.

==== EXTRA STEPS OVER THE ACCEPTED ANSWER =====

11. Open the Visual Basic window (usually ALT+F11 if I remember correctly) and open the VBAProject properties (Tools menu).
12. Click on the Protection tab and change (do not remove at this stage) the password to something short and easy to remember (we'll be removing in next step).
13. Save the workbook and then close and reopen.
14. Open again the Visual Basic window and enter the password you just put in. Redo the previous step but this time you can remove (delete) the password.
15. Save the workbook and you have now removed the password.

Extra steps are taken from following site https://confluence.jaytaala.com/display/TKB/Remove+Excel+VBA+password

The protection is a simple text comparison in Excel. Load Excel in your favourite debugger (Ollydbg being my tool of choice), find the code that does the comparison and fix it to always return true, this should let you access the macros.

For Excel 2016 64-bit on a Windows 10 machine, I have used a hex editor to be able to change the password of a protected xla (have not tested this for any other extensions). Tip: create a backup before you do this.

The steps I took:

1. Open the vba in the hex editor (for example XVI)
2. Search on this DPB
3. Change DPB to something else, like DPX
4. Save it!
5. Reopen the .xla, an error message will appear, just continue.
6. You can now change the password of the .xla by opening the properties and go to the password tab.

I hope this helped some of you!