Trickbot — Office (OOXML) malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 05a4eeed2387c547…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

119.0 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 001650b3316732f354f62e078d716c83 SHA-1: 7c6cebc6f49de94d910d119a92c3011942159b61 SHA-256: 05a4eeed2387c5475b7524dd266e2eac10e9a05a5adedb8dbd300923421671f6
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Trickbot · confidence 95%

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

This Excel file contains Excel 4.0 macros that utilize dangerous functions like FORMULA and EXEC to download a DLL named 'zvbxnx.dll' from 'http://162.248.225.95/d.php'. The macros then attempt to execute this DLL using 'regsvr32 -slient'. The ClamAV detection also explicitly identifies it as a Trickbot downloader.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (5 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: FORMULA, 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.Trickbot07210-9880007-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Trickbot07210-9880007-0
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 1 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 5

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
ead8cdcc18ca09a9f1328ae9399750e4baa9e7c6fb8ca17b0bd770971aea3f01		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 229062 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
3a34f0c119b58147309018ddbc9805599240f8e8e91c55e24eb1ebd1c199c1e2		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet2.xml 1689 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
b062a709274dd5fc840799089ddb6864ced137e2315ba08b0299f6065a16b375		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet3.xml 1773 bytes
xlm_sheet_03.xml
57537cc8466ada117081e749fe7167446f3f5d029fd4fb1612ea0261027bc6c1		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet4.xml 1778 bytes
xlm_sheet_04.xml
9cf98f4732ae983fd46d8cf179488facaeec3ec6d78e683880682236b3dbdb0e		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet5.xml 1879 bytes

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