Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 0a8eefa2c0afaf6c…

MALICIOUS

PDF

35.2 KB
MD5: 60436fcf3fbfb27326b66518b31f9b8c SHA-1: cabcb8dadb559d4b9ba8e809e51014188c7c6ebf SHA-256: 0a8eefa2c0afaf6c416f6ffd2b28fe482528f1e2c10533b0e781a21771b60f38
194 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.007 JavaScript T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and a Flash object (SWF), indicating an attempt to exploit vulnerabilities. The JavaScript uses `String.fromCharCode` and string concatenation to construct a payload, which is then likely executed. This behavior, combined with the 'PDF_JS_EXPLOIT_CLUSTER' heuristic, strongly suggests the PDF is designed to download and run a secondary malicious file. The presence of an embedded SWF file further supports the exploitation vector.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 10

  • PDF JavaScript exploit cluster critical PDF_JS_EXPLOIT_CLUSTER
    PDF combines an executable JavaScript/action surface with exploit staging indicators such as eval/unescape/fromCharCode, XFA script content, or a related CVE pattern. Benign form JavaScript remains low-severity, but this correlated cluster is high-confidence malicious behavior.
  • RichMedia (Flash) high PDF_RICHMEDIA
    PDF contains /RichMedia (Adobe Flash) which is a historic exploit vector
  • ASCIIHexDecode filter (with exploit indicators) medium PDF_FILTER_HEX
    Hex-encoding filter present alongside exploit delivery indicators — often used to hide payload or shellcode bytes
  • JavaScript action low PDF_JAVASCRIPT
    PDF contains a /JavaScript action. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • Embedded JS stream low PDF_JS
    PDF references a /JS stream. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • Embedded file low PDF_EMBEDDED
    PDF embeds a file attachment — could carry an executable or another weaponised document as a nested payload
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • String.fromCharCode low PDF_FROMCHARCODE
    String.fromCharCode found — used to construct payload strings dynamically. Common in benign JavaScript libraries for codepoint manipulation, so this alone is informational; weaponised use is also caught by the dedicated fromCharCode-stage and exploit-shape rules. (matched inside decoded stream)
  • Suspicious extracted artifact info 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.
  • 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://ns.adobe.com/xdp/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xci/2.6/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.6/

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
Adobe.swf
8f9c84c8c00bc62ae296a81fac6640aa852ea67548abc1bd639aa0da1a1696c4
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 16 at offset 0xE23 27347 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact entropy is 7.99, consistent with packed or encrypted content.
javascript_obj0006_000.js
98a5f39693f4d87f9a61f458cfd2dc7b1aaa0abe24c008458c61ff65e3d161c6
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 6 at offset 0x105 10458 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).