IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8a5a0eb73140ac68…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

328.5 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: a7c3f6929b31ef8440c70c8daf74ef0b SHA-1: ce6b93d2dd43bbb8618eb993a90767ed04e83330 SHA-256: 8a5a0eb73140ac68f58dce07a7a6fafa6b43cef405a954720bb2fe71d28fa64b
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 Link: Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The sample is an XLSM file containing Excel 4.0 macros, which are known to be used for malicious purposes. The critical heuristic 'OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN' indicates the use of functions like FORMULA, GOTO, REGISTER, and EXEC, which can be used to download and execute payloads. The presence of an 'Auto_Open' macro further suggests automatic execution upon opening. The ClamAV detection as 'Xls.Downloader.IcedID' strongly suggests the IcedID family. The extracted URLs are likely sources for the downloaded payload.

Heuristics 8

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (5 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, GOTO, REGISTER, 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
  • 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 5 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://193.203.202.55/44300,5396033565.dat
    • http://190.14.37.245/44300,5396033565.dat
    • http://194.67.214.216/44300,5396033565.dat
    • http://193.203.202.55/
    • http://190.14.37.245/
    • http://194.67.214.216/
    • 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 7

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
macros.bas
ed3d173956b71a4a513690e5252554cbf023dc6b4efc261a2bfd9eddfcacdc81		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 768 bytes
vbaProject_00.bin
f5784361fded68f702e55e89c49fcbefdfdf12953a86d656822eb7b2e52c1108		 vba-project OOXML VBA project: xl/vbaProject.bin 10240 bytes
xlm_sheet_00.xml
148b8cff8203ae8c2421174bd9e717a585c41eacac809480ea21021638a88efd		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 3768 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
7df27b4b2efc95bcdf8c14aed2fa1baef3393698b82a16b50c3bb8a176a7ee94		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 2171 bytes
xlm_sheet_02.xml
f888465e986f98cf214462d1f1bf45299ac36ed943621ffc392ddacaebecd5d3		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1958 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_03.xml
6706f2199b65c1106020a36e537509f1794e3482058d92a7d5e3b5d1a74b6520		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet4.xml 1931 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_04.xml
d4a2ed42d840d46ddfe9caec4600f3c34aee0de8825704d7597ef6335900ee20		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet5.xml 2000 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).

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