Qbot — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 37d2b6ee55898392…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

136.1 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 14.0300
MD5: 8d562f3924db8b1280c538fc2ac9acb2 SHA-1: da2a4e376c0e5a8a5ee83ff61b5dccc5121a336e SHA-256: 37d2b6ee55898392b8142173ad26c2adaa3fb9214fe36325d48b3db9f92e0ca4
240 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Qbot · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.001 PowerShell T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The sample is an XLSM file containing Excel 4.0 macros that utilize dangerous functions like CALL and EXEC. The document body explicitly mentions downloading a file (DllRegisterServer) from two URLs, indicating a downloader functionality. The ClamAV detection name 'Xls.Downloader.Qbot0421-9856653-0' strongly suggests the Qbot family. The macros are designed to download and execute a second-stage payload from the provided URLs.

Heuristics 5

  • 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: EXEC, HALT, CALL 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.Qbot0421-9856653-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Qbot0421-9856653-0
  • 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://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
    • http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceEvent#
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceRef#
    • 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

Extracted artifacts 5

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
c9572e438bfcb24b5f5867be7e8e800b585523f7fc02709bcf337d1e556e35d6		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1104 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
341b6aa872c886159965ac2ef1c12d243e9d2b30a24322e792190b0fc25b7efa		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 4182 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
45a1717bf0471e436f070526d7fcbefcee84427ee7fb6f962981cf945ee53f64		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1405 bytes
xlm_sheet_03.xml
a401e6e5c25bec0ca4ab14ba6044860024840b3cfbdefb1b5bbbf9f8e9776b60		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet4.xml 1138 bytes
xlm_sheet_04.xml
9e4c2e5b9e1ac4eaca601866d0be5fbc30ecddb90a1bea5a1647cdfdb83f1299		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet5.xml 1490 bytes

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