Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 72649f51b88e7623…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSX

262.1 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2022-03-02
MD5: 5b198d539055e6392149dca329c3b2ad SHA-1: ecf1dc720f56ca6a7632410ed6a8cf28f1485df1 SHA-256: 72649f51b88e7623f8c78f0640787f29d3632001b628c89fdbc7316a3c1b8b63
120 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

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

The sample is identified as malicious by ClamAV with a specific Emotet detection name, and static analysis reveals the presence of Excel 4.0 macro sheets. These macros are likely responsible for downloading and executing a secondary payload, a common tactic for Emotet. The presence of multiple macro sheets indicates a complex macro structure designed for obfuscation or multi-stage execution.

Heuristics 2

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (3 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. The macro sheet is stored as XLSB/BIFF12 binary content, which many XML-only OOXML scanners miss.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-OOXML_XL-af43432fbcb8603c-9980048-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-OOXML_XL-af43432fbcb8603c-9980048-0

Extracted artifacts 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.bin
9e8ff10d9dc7b91a707bd9db9ef8f1f85215faa95a475bdb829acc6aa2435df9		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.bin 2376 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.bin
048a1a0d53332ec585623aa2624a3c193f53c199cdef7f811aaa6935dad05f08		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.bin 428 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.bin
a56a4b9f5554fb691823d2d03ab5576333fdded05e59fe68aca1010f539ddf53		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.bin 428 bytes

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