Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 63e5ead326674127…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

3.72 MB Created: 2021-05-10 15:58:58 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 15.0300
MD5: 2089ddb364e94e29c87df30a036b6082 SHA-1: 0331c2dd859646f2932a0cf2bcc3b1864c181a3a SHA-256: 63e5ead32667412761253975bf82659e66f53a5fcf6d90782b682ed3195a47fb
370 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample is an XLSM file containing a Workbook_Open VBA macro that utilizes CreateObject to download and execute a second-stage payload from a remote URL. The ClamAV detection 'Doc.Downloader.Emotet-10019767-0' strongly suggests Emotet family involvement. The macro's functionality aligns with downloading and executing arbitrary code, as indicated by the 'OLE_VBA_HTTP_DROP_EXEC' heuristic.

Heuristics 10

  • VBA downloads and writes a file to disk critical OLE_VBA_HTTP_DROP_EXEC
    VBA reads an HTTP response body and writes it to disk (ADODB.Stream SaveToFile). Combined with the auto-exec/Shell paths this is a download-drop dropper even when the COM ProgIDs are built dynamically to evade keyword scanning.
  • ClamAV: Doc.Downloader.Emotet-10019767-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Doc.Downloader.Emotet-10019767-0
  • ClamAV detection on extracted artifact critical EXTRACTED_FILE_CLAMAV
    ClamAV flagged at least one file extracted from inside this sample. Even when the wrapping document carries no AV detection of its own, a hit on the carved artifact is a strong indicator the sample is a delivery vehicle.
  • Workbook_Open macro high OLE_VBA_WBOPEN
    Workbook_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.
  • 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.
  • VBA project inside OOXML medium OOXML_VBA
    Document contains a VBA project — VBA macros present
  • Environ() call (env variable access) low OLE_VBA_ENVIRON
    Environ() call (env variable access)
  • 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 https://yolophiwe.co.za/progress/lib/lightbox/css/HIYRmK7Zz5StRsU.php
    • https://navigator.fun/wp-content/plugins/refer-a-friend-for-woocommerce-by-wpgens/public/js/mCB8abRB2.php
    • https://inhousecare.org/GNyTpi4kVJrip.php
    • https://test399.estore.vlinkhosting.com/keO6l8CTVAVBY.php
    • https://lernendeutsch.de/App/vendor/phar-io/manifest/examples/rC6SrlTXo3VNK9.php
    • https://sellobsoleteinventories.com/images/favicon/0mJUsyWM8dOk6.php
    • https://quicklane.ae/llKTfaRKu9cHNme.php
    • https://serdalpecel.com.tr/css/fonts/font-awesome/css/smUU2T8ExE4p.php
    • https://espgamerica.com/vendor/rvsitebuilder/core/fonts/vendor/Od8ptePPjMagXHZ.php
    • https://yolophiwe.co.za/progress/

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
95ae03ec839f542869e0d5be8767e42fb78645d00a8b17e4c7f3621048705884		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 2643801 bytes
vbaProject_00.bin
d9245575d40f15adc0b8380b89fde29b519201ddb5b779c9d7555e819ccb7b94		 vba-project OOXML VBA project: xl/vbaProject.bin 5386240 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Doc.Downloader.Emotet-10019767-0
Obfuscation or payload: unlikely

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