Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8d51cd7147ab1575…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

47.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-04-22
MD5: 19126022e2267e271483d6c9de349892 SHA-1: a3078049041d52844113ae762cd700a6b654b0ef SHA-256: 8d51cd7147ab1575bad2a6ab12e9938878b6c26d20622665da096906374441d4
202 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

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

The sample is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet that leverages the Auto_Open function to execute. Heuristics indicate the use of dangerous formula APIs, specifically the RUN function, which is commonly used to download and execute payloads. The ClamAV detection as 'Doc.Downloader.Emotet' strongly suggests Emotet family involvement. Multiple suspicious URLs were extracted, likely serving as download locations for the second-stage malware.

Heuristics 5

  • 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: Doc.Downloader.Emotet04222-9946520-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Doc.Downloader.Emotet04222-9946520-0
  • 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.
  • 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://www.escueladecinemza.com.ar/_installation/IBlj/
    • http://counteract.com.br/wp-admin/WWcACJFy3Yn/
    • http://dancefox24.de/templates/owT/
    • https://ciencias-exactas.com.ar/old/Bupubz1trh/
    • https://creemo.pl/wp-admin/0uDUHJ4KVAw/
    • http://focusmedica.in/fmlib/TYiQdcEj9FW0/�

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
2670f09984c9f89e0c31dbfd71e019d5945a5ba86b2e4e522615b22d445dd7f0
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 8122 bytes