Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 00ac480eb8e89d69…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

29.1 KB Created: 2021-12-07 22:55:30 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 3d646a89bba2a562b8a491fe0a4fff75 SHA-1: 728641affd87d450fb3596ec61b4e912f4aa91cb SHA-256: 00ac480eb8e89d69c6f7ad4b701801d4834aa3d9afbade4f3bb6701be52d5336
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File: User Execution: Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The file is an XLSM document containing Excel 4.0 macros, detected as Emotet by ClamAV. The macros utilize dangerous functions like EXEC and HALT. Specifically, the formula `=EXEC(SSDGO)` calls a command that decodes and executes a PowerShell command to download a payload from `http://87.251.85.100/love/love3.html`. This indicates a downloader functionality.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks.
  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OOXML_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    Workbook defines _xlnm.Auto_Open or _xlnm.Auto_Close while containing an XLM macro sheet. This is the OOXML/XLSB auto-execution shape for Excel 4.0 macros.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: EXEC, HALT critical OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet uses formula APIs that call directly into Win32 (=CALL/=EXEC/=REGISTER/=FORMULA). These are the primitives used to download payloads, write files, and start processes from an XLM macro without invoking VBA.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.EmotetExcel122100-9913103-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.EmotetExcel122100-9913103-0
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 4 hidden sheet(s) — hidden sheets are commonly used to conceal macro code, staging data, or intermediate payload construction
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revision
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
1f451318ece815ed88b275a9a57316488f65d96f0d7b8b5eb63cd58e6d00fa86		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1798 bytes

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