Emotet — Office (OLE) / .XLS malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e7de8f081f3f7c9e…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

94.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2022-07-04
MD5: 242f4ae53469696f33c41a84db495fcf SHA-1: cddbbe3a974f528bb62c7c7a56de0c7cf0830239 SHA-256: e7de8f081f3f7c9e13e8279a9ce60d93ee48401482b67ed623bd035fe4dfc5e9
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

Emotet · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic for Applications T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a known technique for executing malicious code. The presence of the 'RUN' function within the macro sheet indicates it is designed to download and execute a secondary payload. ClamAV detection further confirms its malicious nature, identifying it as an Emotet downloader.

Heuristics 4

  • 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-ea81817e7f807ab1-9952142-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.Emotet-ea81817e7f807ab1-9952142-0
  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
284f2836f30d4f529f3f67110b3bfb73d5b26e67c353e36fa87f86510408efa8
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 8144 bytes