Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 5e6a23666c298879…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

34.6 KB Authoring application: 14.0300 First seen: 2022-03-15
MD5: 10962f55a36fbf4399d62eb4580888a0 SHA-1: b16afa1ba86bdd7608065865ebe653ce94407b0f SHA-256: 5e6a23666c298879aa7f5d4dc86dff25b4779e4874e62c0d537966dd0e976bf0
230 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros that utilize dangerous formula APIs like FORMULA to construct and execute commands. The macros appear to be designed to download and execute a second-stage payload from one of the embedded URLs, such as "http://sorathlions.com/tmp/bfJrKD4g0bJL73qw/". The presence of 'regsvr32.exe' in the document body further suggests the execution of downloaded components.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 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.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: FORMULA 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.Emotet03220-9940859-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet03220-9940859-0
  • 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.
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 3 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://sorathlions.com/tmp/bfJrKD4g0bJL73qw/
    • http://narsanatanaokulu.com/wp-includes/reZNtZ53IH/
    • http://support.techopesolutions.com/gq2z3/yt7TquOtSLXXeade/
    • http://www.invest-moon.com/wp-admin/2PbOcXXyFr4oFoogAA/
    • https://ramijabali.com/licenses/WQu8ZS0qQNGp/
    • http://blog.centerking.top/wp-includes/YvwIBPBq/
    • http://sorathlions.com/t
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/spreadsheetDrawing
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main
    • 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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
a44bf55569e62e59e5c50a7fb03322113dc310e9439e4d8dc702bc7be8e2e654		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 4102 bytes

Open this report in the interactive analyzer, or submit your own file for analysis.