Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a956d8d035a22525…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

90.5 KB Created: 2022-01-27 23:12:32 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: eecfe098e3058b06b800f56a243c293d SHA-1: a4f1f1ad6c774f88255893a5b0346bda43dc5257 SHA-256: a956d8d035a2252580bbaa84a614ae240e447868b6025dfac1b57ed428bfce0a
362 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1218.005 System Binary Proxy Execution: Mshta T1059.005 Visual Basic

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros that are configured to automatically execute upon opening. These macros invoke CMD.EXE to run mshta.exe, which then attempts to download and execute a payload from the URL http://91.240.118.172/cc/vv/fe.html. This behavior is consistent with Emotet's typical downloader functionality.

Heuristics 9

  • 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.EmotetRed02220-9938645-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Doc.Downloader.EmotetRed02220-9938645-0
  • Suspicious cmd.exe invocation with execution flag high SC_STR_CMD
    Suspicious cmd.exe invocation with execution flag
  • 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://91.240.118.172/cc/vv/fe.htmlB
    • http://91.240.118.172/cc/vv/fe.html

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
201fc8a6dfed1f2137f68d135949eaad0d28f108842c13f39cb9773e98a80cec		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 659 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 shell/COM execution token(s). Carved macro source contains an auto-exec entry point and execution/download terms.

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