IcedID — Office (OOXML) / .XLSM malware analysis

Static analysis result for SHA-256 d7ec3a26863b6631…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML) / .XLSM

170.6 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300
MD5: 7767ee9b51e842b7f707cdf6e79c3a30 SHA-1: f2e0bb0b97aac7eb87ae0e4cbc5102f332a17bc7 SHA-256: d7ec3a26863b663118444def3c61cf167865ccce20b86fe07376c1d1eb6019bb
240 Risk Score

Malware Insights

IcedID · confidence 95%

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

The file is an Excel macro-enabled spreadsheet (.XLSM) containing Excel 4.0 macros. Heuristics indicate the use of dangerous XLM functions like FORMULA.FILL, GOTO, RETURN, and EXEC, which are commonly used to download and execute payloads. The ClamAV detection explicitly names 'Xls.Downloader.IcedID'. The embedded URLs in the document body are likely the sources for the second-stage payload. The macros likely establish persistence and download additional malware.

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
beaf3ffbc0c1fe0940b468bbe018294b2e9df57ed661175b2b23a1d74554dc29		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.xml 5720 bytes
xlm_sheet_01.xml
24891294ef37aa1a32df25cf488687c1f0e2acd16ce43be5b9a0be75f6fdd1ba		 xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet2.xml 2124 bytes

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