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8932LDG's avatar
8932LDG
Copper Contributor
Dec 11, 2025

Investigating Excel-Initiated Email Activity Without Sent Items Trace

Two days ago, three emails were sent from a user’s inbox without leaving any copies in the Sent Items folder. The user did not send these emails manually—this is confirmed by the presence of the SimpleMAPI flag in Outlook.

**What I know:**

**Email Characteristics:**
- All three emails contained a Word attachment.
- No body text was present.
- The subject line matched the attachment file name.
- Two of the emails were identical.

**Recipients:**
- Emails were sent to colleagues who originally created the attached documents.

**Attachment Details:**
- One attachment appeared to be a temporary file (e.g., a3e6....).

**System Behavior:**
- No suspicious logins detected before or after the event.
- Emails were sent via the Outlook.exe process on the user’s machine.
- Excel.exe was identified as the parent initiating process according to Microsoft Defender endpoint logs.

**In Defender's Endpoint logs I found this under Typed Details (related to the firing of the 3 emails):**
- Downloaded file: `2057_5_0_word_httpsshredder-eu.osi.office.net_main.html`
  - Path: `C:\Users\s***s\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\TapCache\2057_5_0_word_httpsshredder-eu.osi.office.net_main.html`
- Downloaded file: `~$rmalEmail.dotm`
  - Path: `C:\Users\s***s\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\~$rmalEmail.dotm`

I am seeking assistance to replicate this issue and accurately determine how these three emails were triggered.

1 Reply

  • GoXATAKAN's avatar
    GoXATAKAN
    Brass Contributor

     

    I think this is where it all starts.

    • ~$ = temporary Office file
    • .dotm = macro-enabled Word template

    This means Word macros were loaded, even if the user never noticed Word opening.

    Very common when:

    • Excel automates Word
    • A template is referenced
    • A macro runs silently

      How you can reproduce it yourself (quick test)
      1. Open Excel
      2. Press Alt + F11
      3. Paste this into a module:
    • Sub TestSend() CreateObject("Outlook.Application") _ .CreateItem(0) _ .Send End Sub
      1. Run it
    • You’ll see:
      1. Email sent
      2. No Sent Items copy
      3. Outlook.exe used
      4. Excel.exe is parent

        Same behavior you’re investigating.

        To Prevent this; 👉 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

        Security settings → Attack surface reduction → Rules

        Enable:
        • Excel → Outlook email automation
        • Word macros sending mail
        • Office launching cmd.exe / powershell.exe

          Enable: Block Office apps from creating child processes → It should block.


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