Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6fa01dcf027dcdc6…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

228.3 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2022-11-08
MD5: 5949de004e34883d4c9f638d16a2bea4 SHA-1: 59901ba23c32eee1dfc15cc2ea93b4caa8477118 SHA-256: 6fa01dcf027dcdc6d59d16e4ebc4a5b29a9ab3672039a8292c9b3f8086f0cf9d
242 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.001 PowerShell T1059.003 Windows Command Shell

The file is an XLSM document containing Excel 4.0 macros, detected by ClamAV as Emotet. The macros utilize dangerous functions like FORMULA to call Win32 APIs, enabling the download of a second-stage payload from multiple URLs. The script attempts to download from 'https://datie-tw.com/img/SvH/' and other similar URLs, and then execute it using 'System32\..\..\egsv:\Windows\ /S'.

Heuristics 5

  • 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.
  • 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: 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.Emotet-OOXML_XL-b649c93692b4c9d9-9980043-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-OOXML_XL-b649c93692b4c9d9-9980043-0
  • 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://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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
e7e4747ca590661aea967ab963ccd102f2aac81bdc54d2d3f2283a58e3bff86f		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 3414 bytes

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