IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2aefbd5d90b7e321…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

176.4 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 49aa1eb24a469e2854d0cf0f036c65e2 SHA-1: fdf8f53165f5dab9b1c125c4dd78e61611011bdb SHA-256: 2aefbd5d90b7e321ada6ca4177b64903714287dd72308b234928dd2339ce3a95
268 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Visual Basic T1059.001 Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File: Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros, which are known to be used for malicious purposes. The critical heuristic 'OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN' indicates the use of dangerous XLM formula APIs like EXEC and REGISTER, commonly employed to download and execute payloads. The ClamAV detection as 'Xls.Downloader.IcedID' further supports this. The extracted URLs are highly suspicious and likely serve as the source for the second-stage payload. The presence of an Auto_Open macro suggests immediate execution upon opening the document.

Heuristics 8

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (3 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.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: FORMULA, REGISTER, EXEC, GOTO, 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.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.IcedID-9f1f1d193a2a2a2b-9951463-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.IcedID-9f1f1d193a2a2a2b-9951463-0
  • Auto_Open macro high OLE_VBA_AUTO
    Auto_Open macro
  • VBA project inside OOXML medium OOXML_VBA
    Document contains vbaProject.bin — VBA macros present
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium 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.
  • 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://45.150.67.231/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://45.150.67.238/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://195.123.210.171/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://45.150.67.231/
    • http://45.150.67.238/
    • http://195.123.210.171/
    • 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 5

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
38c2ca95d3a378256000e3cece96c570531cd647b7144666d33b3327d83ace49		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 724 bytes
vbaProject_00.bin
dac7393970ce831ab172968562d9de4fffc6bae59cdf47bb43ca755b2604094d		 vba-project OOXML VBA project: xl/vbaProject.bin 10240 bytes
xlm_sheet_00.xml
129fb6003f0d7bf0a0ddcf738c2b8b9c09df9df114ca3e06248807c9946b974b		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 3738 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_01.xml
39d7fded054c4f16783762adae220a09b49816a6591e0e8a260b49988ca1129c		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1518 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_02.xml
07258137112005cd5e106922ed115dfa9bf05fde6dae69ea4d5761bf89b0eea6		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1513 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).

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