Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c164be3d34dab2b3…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

114.7 KB Created: 2022-01-24 14:50:55 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 2281e6cbf83b40e29990ebfcb00cd3b6 SHA-1: 1e76526d583a9309538bee9bc039ab0e0e5a5dfe SHA-256: c164be3d34dab2b3fe0fa295a283463bb37110d22a635b0df2841ae5d6959eaf
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.001 PowerShell

The sample is identified as malicious by ClamAV with the signature Xls.Downloader.Emotet-bd646319c2d29cd6-9951195-0. Static analysis revealed the presence of Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name that utilizes dangerous formula APIs like RUN. This indicates the macro sheet is designed to execute arbitrary code upon opening, likely serving as a downloader for further malicious payloads. The document body content appears to be a generic time card template, suggesting a lure to entice users to open the malicious spreadsheet.

Heuristics 4

  • 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-bd646319c2d29cd6-9951195-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-bd646319c2d29cd6-9951195-0
  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
f65423032a2492710482664c048191ebe835ee4ace2752f1b0fa6e40d416cdf9
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 4885 bytes