Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3461b3f8365343ef…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

85.1 KB Created: 2022-01-27 23:41:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: c3d006b63614d74cf37f0c57877e2e78 SHA-1: 88889f1e185a947fd9eb377dbe1c98079b71fdee SHA-256: 3461b3f8365343efde6ef8bc4dd6e7e3a590d5fefc6b7cd3d7c7ecb2db531ca5
362 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1218.005 System Binary Proxy Execution: Mshta T1059.003 Windows Command Shell

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro that executes a command. This command uses CMD.EXE to launch mshta.exe, which in turn downloads and executes a payload from the URL http://91.240.118.172/gg/ff/fe.html. This behavior is characteristic of Emotet downloaders.

Heuristics 9

  • 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-a5251d3d2d6d3722-9951020-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-a5251d3d2d6d3722-9951020-0
  • Suspicious cmd.exe invocation with execution flag high SC_STR_CMD
    Suspicious cmd.exe invocation with execution flag
  • Reference to mshta.exe high SC_STR_MSHTA
    Reference to mshta.exe
  • LOLBin token sequence in document text high SE_LOLBIN_RUN_COMMAND
    Extracted document text contains a Windows script/execution tool name (PowerShell, mshta, cmd, rundll32, regsvr32, …) within 220 characters of a dangerous flag, command verb, or URL. This is a visible 'run this' instruction in HTML/PDF/RTF lure bodies, or — in macro-laden Office files — the macro's own string-pool entries appearing adjacent in extracted text.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact high EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • 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.
  • 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://91.240.118.172/gg/ff/fe.htmlB
    • http://91.240.118.172/gg/ff/fe.html

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
442d6b173c127aa1cacf7230e3da93b0f434b2ef7e8f05e02651142f862a415c		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 529 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 shell/COM execution token(s). Carved macro source contains an auto-exec entry point and execution/download terms.

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