Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8f2711d69fd3da52…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

55.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-06-22
MD5: c7b9e761e1a452e15e317c6d12703fb3 SHA-1: 56448dfe551e22a18bb6515c2ee08872048800e8 SHA-256: 8f2711d69fd3da52c9b938a93683984194c4626f0f1d123fcae629b58cc68ba6
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

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

The sample contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a critical finding. The macro uses the RUN function, indicating it's designed to execute external code. ClamAV identified the file as 'Xls.Downloader.Emotet', strongly suggesting the Emotet family. The macro constructs a URL by concatenating strings: "http"&"s://"&"m.me/u/ploa/d/xsvEP/r4708U/k/". This URL is likely used to download and execute a second-stage payload.

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-aa87d5786a858772-9953435-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-aa87d5786a858772-9953435-0
  • 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
ce5ddabd78030501fe08ac0de6c475f5512662208e2aff42554c196b4b97c657		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 8088 bytes

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