Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 0ad9f3ae28cdc193…

MALICIOUS

PDF

1.01 MB Created: 2008-03-19 22:47:48 -04:00 Authoring application: Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0 for PowerPoint (via Acrobat Distiller 8.0.0 (Windows))
MD5: caa2bfa3557aee2ebc672bedb5bb0ce9 SHA-1: 757aa1e7acc1bb6032d78be49a0ffd01bd798ad8 SHA-256: 0ad9f3ae28cdc193547c4d794e068702c6e1988b612e9305c2a4c828e53729e5
504 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF contains a JavaScript action that triggers a launch action, executing cmd.exe. This action is designed to export an embedded file named 'MSF_final.pdf', which is detected as a Windows executable by ClamAV. The embedded executable is likely a second-stage payload, and the overall behavior is consistent with a malicious document dropper. The presence of suspicious URLs further supports the malicious intent.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9747

Heuristics 13

  • Adobe Reader Launch action command execution critical CVE exact CVE_2010_1240
    PDF uses the Adobe Reader/Acrobat Launch action pattern associated with CVE-2010-1240: cmd.exe is invoked with attacker-controlled parameters, paired with an embedded/exported payload.
  • Launch action critical PDF_LAUNCH
    PDF contains a /Launch action whose target is an executable, URL, or UNC path — can start an external application
  • /Launch action target: cmd.exe critical PDF_LAUNCH_COMMAND
    PDF /Launch action specifies an executable target with parameters '/Q /C %HOMEDRIVE%&cd %HOMEPATH%&(if exist "Desktop\\MSF_final.pdf" (cd "Desktop"' — references a known-dangerous executable (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).
  • Embedded attachment masquerades: declared document, content is windows-executable critical PDF_EMBEDDED_FILESPEC_CONTENT_MISMATCH
    An /EmbeddedFile attachment's declared filename extension or /Subtype MIME type contradicts the magic bytes of its decompressed content. The attachment is declared as a benign document or image but the bytes are an executable or executable-bearing archive. This is a deliberate deception used to hide droppers in PDF attachments and is a generic indicator of embed-and-drop weaponisation, independent of any specific CVE.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • ClamAV detection on extracted artifact critical EXTRACTED_FILE_CLAMAV
    ClamAV flagged at least one file extracted from inside this sample. Even when the wrapping document carries no AV detection of its own, a hit on the carved artifact is a strong indicator the sample is a delivery vehicle.
  • /Launch action paired with attachment-dropping JS API high PDF_LAUNCH_PLUS_DROPPER_JS
    PDF combines a /Launch action with a JavaScript API call that writes or opens an attached/external resource — the canonical shape of the CVE-2010-1240 /Launch + exportDataObject family. Benign PDFs do not pair these surfaces; the combination indicates a drop-and-execute chain regardless of the specific JS API knobs or /Launch target.
  • Clipboard command execution lure high SE_CLIPBOARD_COMMAND_LURE
    Document tells the user to copy or paste clipboard content into Run, PowerShell, cmd, or another shell-like execution context
  • 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
  • Optional Content Group with action trigger low PDF_OPTIONAL_CONTENT
    Optional Content Group (layer) co-occurs with an action trigger — content can be selectively hidden from viewers or scanners while the action still fires on open
  • 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://evil-site.com/file.html
    • http://10.10.11.10:80/file.pls
    • http://www.zeustech.net/
    • http://]hostname[:port]/path
    • http://metasploit.com/opcodedb/
    • http://metasploit.com/shellcode/
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdfx/1.3/
    • http://www.apache.org/
    • http://www.iec.ch

Extracted artifacts 9

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
MSF_final.pdf
58da107c00e3d9d2eb036ca4c1155bafc45390753f22b796678904f434cc06ac
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 2889 at offset 0xF749B 73802 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0
Obfuscation or payload: unlikely
javascript_obj2890_000.js
6b200d4cca3827cc151ab3a6af92d3346b52f06a74136cfb7212e07f10196bb4
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 2890 at offset 0x102053 58 bytes
stream_008_off00003221.bin
b3bee5a23447b445107248c454308625363e6fa7d59fc8918c47c898c32441e7
decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x3221 325080 bytes
icc_00_off000013f1.icc
2b3aa1645779a9e634744faf9b01e9102b0c9b88fd6deced7934df86b949af7e
pdf-icc-profile PDF ICC profile at offset 0x13F1 3144 bytes
font_00_sfnt_off000d0103.bin
43d2ed1466d6217ee2a77f58c3150e62a01398c825349b42c61d028a21d647df
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xD0103 6588 bytes
font_01_sfnt_off000d1949.bin
5a33d0a0bccf487db08c88e3e77f2fa5d218c6e8667d3ce9feb6ae81e29c7d11
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xD1949 24712 bytes
font_02_sfnt_off000d5137.bin
8c14450f751c09e5a3f64556e3e4bcbf802a1fc6ca05bbefe5dff9389948e3b1
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xD5137 14052 bytes
font_03_sfnt_off000d7092.bin
f780fc8adb84294aceb41ef9a2ea4fda40c00d235224893d0cc2beb9a7fbbfc1
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xD7092 24260 bytes
font_04_sfnt_off000da905.bin
11d2c6bf895931ae048a618042d773a40dc9e9ec3ab72317d2a5ec124c553538
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xDA905 12128 bytes