Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 6fc29cee6754fe79…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

95.0 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-07-04
MD5: fda9b005a725d9f698e24b16c3b0eb2a SHA-1: a3bbffdd39f23b08035496f8d394354384e2397f SHA-256: 6fc29cee6754fe79ad16a2d1df7eccd43798c9a1bf4dad634cbd7697700c154e
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

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

The sample is an Excel file containing Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open function. This function is known to be used for executing malicious code, and ClamAV detection confirms its malicious nature, identifying it as Emotet. The macro's ability to execute arbitrary code via dangerous APIs is the primary attack vector.

Heuristics 4

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-ea81817e7f807ab1-9952142-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-ea81817e7f807ab1-9952142-0
  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
79b6a2dec1519d1448373a7642720b0209015dc621e975f23941c2d665784b15		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 8145 bytes

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