Emotet — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 dc1753b4f31d72e0…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

21.1 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2022-03-17
MD5: 9df8eca1ea5deae9d4d4da4e1652e82e SHA-1: 0b2f97f1b592feb1d092e924a54f6e6e24fef25e SHA-256: dc1753b4f31d72e02114796c544c985869a0ad7604369516642efad22a0804db
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 PowerShell T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This Excel 4.0 macro-enabled spreadsheet (XLSM) contains critical heuristic firings indicating the use of dangerous XLM formula APIs like FORMULA, which are known to be used for downloading and executing payloads. The embedded URLs and reconstructed script fragments point to a downloader mechanism. Specifically, the script attempts to download a file named 'rfs.dll' and execute it via 'regsvr32.exe' from the reconstructed path 'C:\Windows\System32\rfs.dll'. The ClamAV detection further confirms its malicious nature, identifying it as an Emotet downloader variant.

Heuristics 6

  • 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 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.Emotet03220-9941789-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet03220-9941789-0
  • 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 https://www.almoeqatar.com/cgi-bin/3g/
    • http://www.lavameapp.com.ar/slide-images/7bzQevDGMld/
    • http://cenaf.com.co/error/TpewL/
    • http://baykusoglu.com.tr/wp-admin/317Sz3wZsYmAAmmL6/
    • http://www.ayelet.info/wp-admin/oHRoG0X9ubuNtQ/
    • http://lista33rivera.uy/wp-content/jiBtjSaJMcM/
    • http://pusatbahasa.unsyiah.ac.id/backup/qWzXJpGddclh4zZjt/
    • 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
f9ef0dd03a642623a126a648a3e3b498d8403d13558799b8b55ca81a239f78e5		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 3968 bytes

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