Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 050d1e2d231518ea…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSX

258.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 9f094ac8d4dff1fbaa072946da71ee12 SHA-1: 32c24aced0e2a2bf20efe5dfef2212239626fb7f SHA-256: 050d1e2d231518eaff1615e7ef68e8f617aaf15965799a26aecf104f8802c14e
120 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file is identified as a malicious Excel 4.0 downloader by ClamAV, specifically flagged as Emotet. The presence of Excel 4.0 macro sheets indicates the use of legacy macro functionality, which is often exploited for initial execution. These macros are likely responsible for downloading and executing a secondary stage payload, consistent with Emotet's typical behavior.

Heuristics 2

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (3 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. The macro sheet is stored as XLSB/BIFF12 binary content, which many XML-only OOXML scanners miss.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-OOXML_XL-af43432fbcb8603c-9980048-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-OOXML_XL-af43432fbcb8603c-9980048-0

Extracted artifacts 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.bin
cd9549f3f60544f853c00b5eb3c8e486b8cb1bce93764246b9121e5f259d7ccc		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.bin 2474 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.bin
4a5404e13cad24023f87ffa3d548dcb34420bc3d95ce11a786e95d9855762755		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.bin 484 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.bin
dd6a2b630c56356919ca960b5050e7da4cbf2eb4d6dd2eaf22033eff1a33c2fa		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.bin 484 bytes

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