Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 161d80ea72a54c76…

MALICIOUS

PDF

162.9 KB Created: 2010-01-21 14:23:29 Authoring application: PScript5.dll Version 5.2 (via GPL Ghostscript 8.15)
MD5: a9a0bbbf8b022f42d4cff285034588fe SHA-1: 09bd0ef97fe8a77c6c4fe79b25c6357a16a38d73 SHA-256: 161d80ea72a54c7623d5287fa51f5b68bd14da2d9379db0e8dc4dc918a1b3874
556 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains JavaScript that triggers a launch action, executing cmd.exe. This command then attempts to execute an embedded Windows executable disguised as 'ie8.pdf'. The embedded executable was detected by ClamAV as Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0, indicating a malicious payload delivery.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9992

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
  • Embedded Windows executable payload in PDF stream critical PDF_EMBEDDED_PE_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an embedded Windows executable with a verified PE header. Exploit chains often hide droppers inside ordinary streams rather than standard /EmbeddedFile attachments.
  • /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\\ie8.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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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://www.cigital.com
    • http://0x.lv/attr.php
    • http://0x.lv/attr.php?foo=
    • http://p42.us/ie8xss/bing.png
    • http://p42.us/ie8xss/wikipedia.png
    • http://p42.us/ie8xss/digg.png
    • http://p42.us/ie8xss/twitter.png
    • http://twitter.com/sirdarckcat
    • http://twitter.com/thornmaker
    • http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/07/02/ie8-security-part-iv-the-xss-filter.aspx
    • http://blogs.msdn.com/dross/archive/2008/07/03/ie8-xss-filter-design-philosophy-in-
    • http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2008/08/19/ie-8-xss-filter-architecture-
    • http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2010/01/to-disable-ie8s-xss-filter-or-not.html

Extracted artifacts 6

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
ie8.pdf
cdec0465606b1777c366d9ff4562d913ead04f4689bc9e293a014da4c0e7c965		 pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 80 at offset 0x1668E 115200 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0
Obfuscation or payload: unlikely
javascript_obj0081_000.js
d8f240f35eea6fb2384be0980a7b1f0a75129b452661804738a394331cef8189		 pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 81 at offset 0x28741 52 bytes
font_00_cff_off0000a810.bin
e66439770d454c7d8cbdc89782a6cdf560f6dfd1c6cf69da68e9b1700a719151		 pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0xA810 7794 bytes
font_01_cff_off0000bdb4.bin
ec977c241b825056648add2158f96580faddbc4d82f6db4f8faffc3a8702459b		 pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0xBDB4 572 bytes
font_02_cff_off0000bfc6.bin
6a5919fecc3ae0cb778ac0f04e81fe5678aa503110dd3d0b73bcd406069eb527		 pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0xBFC6 262 bytes
font_03_cff_off0000c11d.bin
47f3ee6b2756a1d36cbcca7380a1beffa5240f0c3688315f1abf484e076f6342		 pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0xC11D 8492 bytes

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