Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 b3e0a0ea16a40273…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

35.7 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2022-03-21
MD5: c8954e4fa0b509a2dc54a270696386ae SHA-1: ecef071793a9e73d8add927b7429c814324e178f SHA-256: b3e0a0ea16a40273d5d639aad8247f7d05d90ed4aa4fa358d4bcc81737364496
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Visual Basic T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious Link T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The file is an XLSM document containing Excel 4.0 macros, detected as Emotet by ClamAV. The macros utilize dangerous XLM functions like FORMULA to construct and download a payload from a series of concatenated URLs. One reconstructed URL is "https://casin0jackpotking.com/cgi-bin/47sKbkISQf31/". The macros also reference "regsvr32.exe" and "xdha", indicating execution of downloaded payloads.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (2 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.Emotet03221-9941790-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet03221-9941790-0
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 5 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 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 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
56299d8024c4f1ac82a7522c7ead08f39677c0bae82297826862fce76df69744		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1495 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
8e2616826469cdb87cf1c4eb49e8c201b264eceb93468f26315db51abb9ca50d		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 4178 bytes

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