Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 ccbccba50baee38d…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

45.6 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2022-03-03
MD5: efe08b49768fc391c68c080dfe35fed7 SHA-1: 118108dccb6578eff9e4e2affec9dc33d1de2f56 SHA-256: ccbccba50baee38d21e2193c276237de829eeb5668c31e3f21c998444a2b3266
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File T1071.001 Web Protocols

The file is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet (XLSM) containing critical heuristic firings for dangerous XLM formula APIs and an Auto_Open defined name, indicating malicious intent. The embedded URLs and the reconstructed command 'regsvr32.exe /s C:\Windows\SysWow64\enu.ocx' strongly suggest the macro is designed to download and execute a second-stage payload, consistent with Emotet's typical delivery mechanism. The ClamAV detection further supports this attribution.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (3 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.Emotet03220-9940726-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet03220-9940726-0
  • 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://piajimenez.com/Fox-C/dS4nv3spYd0DZsnwLqov/
    • http://janshabd.com/Zgye2/
    • http://inopra.com/wp-includes/3zGnQGNCvIKuvrO7T/
    • https://justforanime.com/stratose/PonwPXCl/
    • http://biomedicalpharmaegypt.com/sapbush/BKEaVq1zoyJssmUoe/
    • https://getlivetext.com/Pectinacea/AL5FVpjleCW/
    • 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 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
c2beed76b90707ab99d3556b095847fbe67565665bab2978d4d40d1b769c68e7		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 4017 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
3f1e04bcb932a0d7a0ca09ad6e05d398d7a144c4cda86314010c0ec3e9f94573		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1278 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
3877aa64e871d2d6fcc766f5b3af64ba0d301f656023d2e6e43652b8210d827c		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1152 bytes

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