Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9452c37217227a66…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

155.0 KB Created: 2022-01-27 11:58:35 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: eb4db652d84ae6871b764321ffa73d29 SHA-1: f2fc533667aec436bfd4ed4c6d77bff45e393590 SHA-256: 9452c37217227a664b5a5a4f8759156093d4cb511cb29479359386839f37f900
322 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 contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet with an Auto_Open entry, which is a critical indicator of malicious intent. The macro sheet also uses dangerous formula APIs, specifically the RUN function, and references mshta.exe. This strongly suggests the macro is designed to download and execute a second-stage payload from the embedded URLs. ClamAV detection further confirms this as Xls.Downloader.Emotet. The document body text appears to be generic filler unrelated to the malicious functionality.

Heuristics 8

  • 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-a5251d1d2d6d3726-9951018-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-a5251d1d2d6d3726-9951018-0
  • Reference to mshta.exe high SC_STR_MSHTA
    Reference to mshta.exe
  • LOLBin token sequence in document text high SE_LOLBIN_RUN_COMMAND
    Extracted document text contains a Windows script/execution tool name (PowerShell, mshta, cmd, rundll32, regsvr32, …) within 220 characters of a dangerous flag, command verb, or URL. This is a visible 'run this' instruction in HTML/PDF/RTF lure bodies, or — in macro-laden Office files — the macro's own string-pool entries appearing adjacent in extracted text.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact high EXTRACTED_FILE_STATIC_TRIAGE
    One or more files extracted from inside this sample matched static suspicious-content checks such as script obfuscation, encoded payload blobs, packed data, or execution/download terms.
  • 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 http://91.240.118.168/qqqw/aaas/se.htmlB
    • http://91.240.118.168/qqqw/aaas/se.html

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
ed8983cfed67fcfa9f517c83d0e90708284a746a25a311cb284638eaeddfa242		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 3733 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s). Carved macro source contains an auto-exec entry point and execution/download terms.

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