Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 cbcf429fa17a0b35…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSX

68.9 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 9c0a27132dc9880c23e3d782b40f980f SHA-1: af418eaa6fba6567ac35b259069f89c57f0a6a71 SHA-256: cbcf429fa17a0b352d49d9493c2d8c7b14c5f183cd9b6c5cb7d313e7eec8c87c
290 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1218.011 Rundll32 T1059.001 PowerShell T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This Excel 4.0 macro-enabled document leverages dangerous functions like FORMULA to construct and execute a command. The command uses rundll32.exe to download a payload from one of the provided URLs to SysWow64\..\iix.ocx. The ClamAV detection and the use of Emotet-related URLs strongly suggest the Emotet family. The macro's ability to download and execute a second-stage payload is the primary malicious intent.

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, RETURN 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.EmotetExcel02221-9938627-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.EmotetExcel02221-9938627-0
  • 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 4 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://revueagricole.com/wp-admin/iJDi9Hbqe/
    • http://galabet.blog/2np65ok/IZgE/
    • https://sudaneseacademy.com/wp-admin/VjXNzK7L0uuJsdM9PKi/
    • https://didorenko.org/review/cAAweb70J2VO/
    • https://frankiesfamily.org/cgi-bin/jc3CSTWMVQDE9J7h6/
    • 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
d810cc87eb589e5f09a9a5cb06e9b818ff37e1b4d0032ba08fbf4b3620a5d223		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 3431 bytes

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