IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8815a2be7dfd8565…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

174.2 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 4acf095722b577ef282e9b2b736de65d SHA-1: fbb4e8aee2d48443cd9ee930fc79891edc88edaa SHA-256: 8815a2be7dfd8565affb9271d229aab6289a97a96de5428c966fad85c6141e68
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 Execution: User Execution of Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros that utilize dangerous functions like EXEC and REGISTER to download and execute a payload. The ClamAV detection and the presence of multiple suspicious URLs strongly indicate a downloader functionality, consistent with the IcedID family. The macros are designed to fetch and run a second-stage payload from the provided IP addresses.

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://83.136.232.110/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://185.212.131.194/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://190.14.37.247/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://83.136.232.110/
    • http://185.212.131.194/
    • http://190.14.37.247/
    • 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
af618093826e7cd8f98cb2dae3fa7d9cae890be6efded60ec1d840363fc17149		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 1066 bytes
vbaProject_00.bin
faf62e9f12a7b764345f45df7990cd264ca742932123aa2311f15843cb753193		 vba-project OOXML VBA project: xl/vbaProject.bin 13824 bytes
xlm_sheet_00.xml
6cf1b0d22a0329a8750bdd97f81d923f704ba07c9fab5043b6f099f8b9e8215e		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 3903 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_01.xml
d4b7c27cef36121e9a1cebb537b1497d6dbdefb54b4e63fb30fb0a139195f54c		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1619 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_02.xml
9fbf900cb2210fde894a240dc74a5d998ab7c73f2130162b2dc94ce5dd71d494		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1616 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).

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