Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 0aa789f5b2c5fddf…

MALICIOUS

PDF

171.5 KB
MD5: 4b99628a39e8458bddaa9fdd75d0dadf SHA-1: 58ff2c8ba71390ead87093073cd66b5b6305dcec SHA-256: 0aa789f5b2c5fddf03e731d8be47da86f48a681f31adb5685371f59fd1561475
352 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

This PDF file contains XFA (XML Forms Architecture) which is known to be vulnerable to heap spray exploits. The embedded JavaScript, specifically triggered by the 'initialize' event, is designed to perform a heap spray. This technique is commonly used to gain control of execution flow and likely serves to download and execute a secondary malicious payload. The ClamAV detection 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0' further confirms its malicious nature.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 12

  • XFA form contains risky executable script high CVE related PDF_XFA_SCRIPT
    PDF embeds an XFA form whose script block contains exploit, submission/launch, or shell-execution primitives. Ordinary LiveCycle print/update scripts are left as generic XFA/JS signals unless stronger behavior is present.
  • U3D/3D content in PDF — Adobe Reader 3D parser CVE-family indicator high CVE related PDF_U3D_CVE_RELATED
    PDF contains U3D (Universal 3D) or 3D annotation content — CVE-2011-2462 and CVE-2009-3953 are critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader's U3D processing that allow arbitrary code execution. U3D content in PDFs is extremely rare in normal documents.
  • 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.
  • XFA JavaScript heap-spray exploit code critical PDF_XFA_HEAP_SPRAY
    PDF contains XFA script content with heap-spray or shellcode-like JavaScript markers such as large encoded word sequences, util.pack, large arrays, or spray variable names. This is a weaponised Adobe Reader exploit pattern, not a normal interactive form.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0
  • 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.
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • Embedded script payload in PDF stream low PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an HTML/XFA <script> tag without accompanying Windows shell-execution primitives — common in accessible XFA forms but worth surfacing for analyst review.
  • AcroForm button with action trigger low PDF_ACROFORM_BUTTON
    PDF contains a /Btn form field together with a SubmitForm/URI/Launch/JS trigger — this is the building block of fake 'Download' or 'Open' button overlays used in PDF phishing lures
  • 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/xfa-template/2.5/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_pdf_script_000004c7.bin
738d453aa68705709055be24e4019014030689d5d794416c92545111769e38a8
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x4C7 174324 bytes