Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 30e225c474caca0c…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

95.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-07-13
MD5: 882035eac0d2ea6517df25c5d1dba789 SHA-1: a3a8402e884297ae0f20019a2b2da96689d11e85 SHA-256: 30e225c474caca0c8a3946a303d4b8a6c0bdb5bb0d4a55c9c9944ac4c7cdddd4
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Service Execution T1059.001 PowerShell: PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File: Malicious File

The file is identified as malicious by ClamAV and exhibits critical heuristic firings for Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro utilizing dangerous functions like RUN. This indicates the sample is designed to automatically execute code upon opening, typical for malware downloaders. The ClamAV detection name 'Xls.Downloader.Emotet' strongly suggests the Emotet family and its downloader capabilities.

Heuristics 4

  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    oletools recovered an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry from an Excel 4.0 macro sheet. The raw BIFF name can be tokenized or partially opaque to byte-string checks, but the recovered macro listing confirms the workbook has an XLM auto-execution entry.
  • XLM Auto_Open with dangerous formula APIs critical OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet contains an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry and dangerous XLM formula APIs that can invoke programs, write files, or transfer control without VBA.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-ea81817e7f807ab1-9952142-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-ea81817e7f807ab1-9952142-0
  • Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet present medium OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet sub-stream — XLM is rarely seen in modern legitimate workbooks and was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
85773188e79d904ef8ecf815a27f3a8200cc87e1822ab4901cc9bed29c53e636
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 8156 bytes