IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 f2d461355809ff99…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

172.8 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: f3a581a4b0b3e42673901dfbe178a063 SHA-1: 5906868b7dadfdb6097aa9d0ef00c1f6d5a11824 SHA-256: f2d461355809ff997781dfc8f7d52594e3cdc56ecd341541e390f9d28ffeea47
268 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Service Execution: Service Execution T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File: User Execution: 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. Critical heuristics indicate the use of dangerous XLM functions like EXEC and REGISTER, commonly employed to download and execute payloads. The presence of an Auto_Open macro further suggests automatic execution upon opening. The ClamAV detection explicitly names this as IcedID, a known downloader family. The extracted URLs are highly suspicious and likely serve as the source for the second-stage payload.

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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