IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 53d00b48e5e0ef77…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

321.6 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 6148be9b871cbf52cfd2c1e97305525a SHA-1: 20aeaf490b3f1a52d98d992c28bc6920dcaf0944 SHA-256: 53d00b48e5e0ef776cae1f31aa0d4c88aa1b2c7c7593da9b1debba4022f7e327
290 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File: User Execution T1059.005 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer T1218.011 System Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32

The sample is an XLSM file containing Excel 4.0 macros, which is a known delivery mechanism for IcedID. The macros utilize dangerous functions like REGISTER and EXEC to download and execute a payload from the provided URLs. The ClamAV detection also explicitly names IcedID.

Heuristics 7

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 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: 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
  • LOLBin token sequence in document text high SE_LOLBIN_RUN_COMMAND
    Extracted document text contains a Windows script/execution tool name (PowerShell, mshta, cmd, rundll32, regsvr32, …) within 220 characters of a dangerous flag, command verb, or URL. This is a visible 'run this' instruction in HTML/PDF/RTF lure bodies, or — in macro-laden Office files — the macro's own string-pool entries appearing adjacent in extracted text.
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 2 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 — context-specific rules above attribute URLs they actually evaluated; this rule lists URLs that were present in the bytes but were not otherwise tied to a specific finding.
    URL http://185.219.42.117/
    • http://111.90.148.65/
    • http://185.183.96.24/
    • http://111.90.148
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/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/excel/2006/main
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml
7207f96ca01ef25e18113069b3c7dc40d440793aa020a66a8912eb45d3d7e98e		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 2611 bytes

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