Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 2b6155b1773e0238…

MALICIOUS

PDF

104.7 KB
MD5: 6f4482686b56c79a032c0da82f2487d5 SHA-1: 588614ac2e346240dcad3bcb2265f95e32cb8557 SHA-256: 2b6155b1773e0238290eba22d9276e35dddc3ec11d7a732f5c76759df8decdb7
198 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File T1566.002 Spearphishing Attachment T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information

The PDF contains embedded content and uses XFA forms with executable scripts, indicating an attempt to exploit vulnerabilities. The 'unescape()' call and 'ASCIIHexDecode' filter suggest obfuscation techniques are employed to hide the malicious payload. The embedded file 'embedded_file_obj0008.bin' is likely the secondary stage of the attack.

Heuristics 8

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78
  • unescape() call high PDF_UNESCAPE
    unescape() found — often used to decode shellcode in PDF JS exploits (matched inside decoded stream)
  • Embedded script payload in PDF stream medium 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.
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_file_obj0008.bin
9dfa5d4e31018f2b59569aa06bf043d095b37bff6ab5845bb2130ae42933e7c3
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 8 at offset 0xE2 15203 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).