IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c2ced5f6afddc898…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

172.8 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: bbd43972ab8b64e218cc4de83bbe5631 SHA-1: 2142228264e86bafb63352dcaaafddb700a9b881 SHA-256: c2ced5f6afddc898b45eeeb988b3c376d6c61e3aa6271de5cb3767ef4655646d
268 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Micro Focus Directory Services T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious Link: Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This XLSM file contains Excel 4.0 macros that utilize dangerous functions like REGISTER and EXEC to download and execute a payload. The ClamAV detection explicitly names this as IcedID, a known downloader. The embedded URLs are highly suspicious and likely serve as the distribution points for the second-stage malware.

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://45.150.67.243/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://195.123.210.186/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://91.211.89.28/44285,5327891204.dat
    • http://45.150.67.243/
    • http://195.123.210.186/
    • http://91.211.89.28/
    • 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
2f26ac96bba202e05dcf847261e1d1663d430574538bb7b407a117ed8f397467		 vba-macro oletools.olevba.extract_macros (decoded VBA source from OOXML) 727 bytes
vbaProject_00.bin
25ca724fd75501ff785a097b45b6826bb69f8f90f8407e73a57e3b764293091d		 vba-project OOXML VBA project: xl/vbaProject.bin 10240 bytes
xlm_sheet_00.xml
ee5687b236838b0c2b9f778810736f77da82d41adf1f4bda0ecde74b95813e64		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 3810 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_01.xml
de9a94a6a839b1468572aebbbe877009c458e067a032a9d5fb0d49f065cce601		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 1511 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).
xlm_sheet_02.xml
7bc55721481c93f5e2dea31cdb217e35fe6802807e720b778603a24c7aa4ca5a		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet3.xml 1506 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 shell/COM execution token(s).

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