IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 10e5264aeb161b24…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

170.6 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 1732f508e7622081eb4b9cae4de5204f SHA-1: bfe546e7334e0acdae92f5943109a79df9889708 SHA-256: 10e5264aeb161b24926d52504acc7b377ded9bb55ca8224a42177cb6549c782a
242 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The file is an XLSM document containing Excel 4.0 macros, identified by heuristics as critical. These macros utilize dangerous functions like FORMULA.FILL and EXEC to download and execute a second-stage payload from the URLs http://188.127.227.99/ and 45.150.67.29/. ClamAV detection further confirms its malicious nature, classifying it as Xls.Downloader.IcedID.

Heuristics 5

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (2 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.FILL, GOTO, RETURN, EXEC 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
  • 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 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
21b43b24fc2a4b371e0eab7f7cbec4533426891fb10a2e0ff24cac569d7b0f37
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 5565 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
5c4423f87de4646755545b93c22f66e76828f61098e22de81e80e42a48f190a9
xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 2434 bytes