IcedID — Office (OOXML) malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 36f6144d704efe6e…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

500.8 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: c695262160c399afda3d1b5bb70d3ba0 SHA-1: 01977087093a87382b8b0ffc57d6200c94ce184f SHA-256: 36f6144d704efe6ecb1d3cf6cadf42e1d4d47c1632705a37adc79db69fc16a79
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This Excel file contains Excel 4.0 macros, which are known to be used for malicious purposes. The macros utilize dangerous functions like EXEC and GOTO to download and execute a second-stage payload. Specifically, the script contains the command 'tar -xf ..\Nioka.meposv -C ..\', indicating an attempt to extract a file named Nioka.meposv from the archive, likely a downloader for the IcedID banking trojan.

Heuristics 6

  • 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.
  • 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: GOTO, 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.
  • ClamAV: Xls.Downloader.IcedID-9f1f1d193a2a2a2b-9951463-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Xls.Downloader.IcedID-9f1f1d193a2a2a2b-9951463-0
  • 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 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 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
88ffa887b07b8e32edf38a3ad38e60bfc40472d7e57fac93d84eb5e35cc51c28
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1463 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
d1b4236e56665e42c5cb5ea33b1e14ef9f790be172893074989a2e2ffe3fbe42
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 2019 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
f01c1672da3d79f026490a3b77917d26a4d61f88738537385ad3cee9ecb0ec86
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1448 bytes