Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9d4e8527ac82dea4…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

84.3 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2022-02-22
MD5: bee39a7c85b7a8ef7485b751b3a6986f SHA-1: 19484f77adb8dc7a7f2a4b9c6adb68534a933036 SHA-256: 9d4e8527ac82dea4590f1b083091d838f4975a0756e97f8d35e9657177332cca
290 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Visual Basic T1218.011 System Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32 T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a strong indicator of malicious intent. The macros utilize dangerous formula APIs like FORMULA to call external functions, including rundll32.exe to execute code from 'einl.ocx'. The embedded URLs are used to download the next stage of the payload. The ClamAV detection and the nature of the heuristics strongly suggest this is an Emotet downloader variant.

Heuristics 7

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 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.
  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OOXML_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    Workbook defines _xlnm.Auto_Open or _xlnm.Auto_Close while containing an XLM macro sheet. This is the OOXML/XLSB auto-execution shape for Excel 4.0 macros.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: FORMULA critical OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet uses formula APIs that call directly into Win32 (=CALL/=EXEC/=REGISTER/=FORMULA). These are the primitives used to download payloads, write files, and start processes from an XLM macro without invoking VBA.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.EmotetExcel01223-9936530-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.EmotetExcel01223-9936530-0
  • 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.
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 3 hidden sheet(s) — hidden sheets are commonly used to conceal macro code, staging data, or intermediate payload construction
  • 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://yougandan.com/wp-content/6BDwcZOgnizqfDmDu/
    • https://josephinebaba.com/licenses/GEibxZ0fj/
    • http://govtjobresultbd.xyz/wp-content/9SFD/
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revision
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
94ce481067ff50aad11a63e7c0d34887a339fe2ee9932e266cd1503beaa545b9		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 3034 bytes

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