Malicious Office (OOXML) / .XLSM — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 647d4ae7329b6052…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

174.3 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 3e4bb34a7c282d7196f3ade638681d0b SHA-1: fbbcd1a07199cb26ec5cb1dff352806f26449a82 SHA-256: 647d4ae7329b60527f0b04e9ef97a8c017528e596f1199e3c3f855f5d9defe32
250 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This Excel macro-enabled workbook (XLSM) utilizes Excel 4.0 macros, specifically leveraging dangerous functions like FORMULA, GOTO, and HALT. These functions are used to call Win32 APIs such as URLDownloadToFileA and DllRegisterServer to download and execute a payload, identified as putty.exe, from multiple IP addresses. The presence of these functions and the download mechanism strongly indicate a downloader functionality.

Heuristics 6

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (6 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, 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
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 6 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 6

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
e26278d9df62929caddc39c2675d1a93c805965a35896b4c4240468b728373e2
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 1190 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
085a8a039cb8c91691ce44c2a10342e69aadd8dff46f2810d70b152b307685e2
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet2.xml 3114 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
32e86c8d875e3bc28a2fb3c0512d0cffa7c2a81da63e4fe594ba2772a3b3768c
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet3.xml 2364 bytes
xlm_sheet_03.xml
f6023b616a33da16850bd04bca335ab61b8bf9717cbe0a8ef91527cea67ae7fd
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet4.xml 2025 bytes
xlm_sheet_04.xml
d60ca3a864e3f818e7a00f9aa3f6fdbc180e13ef9ef26c0d3de35bf633fcfa97
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet5.xml 1560 bytes
xlm_sheet_05.xml
e39ad03223dbd59846bfcaeec79c94a8bcc60e0526ca5f2965b6b33923361cfa
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 1831 bytes