Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 31aa7cc022a4855b…

MALICIOUS

PDF

3.0 KB Created: 2005-09-29 09:27:34 UTC Authoring application: Acrobat Distiller 8.1.0 (Windows)
MD5: 7bdcffffa0a7ca74cb089d73839d4af3 SHA-1: 326c79e0384b1cbc7f10a65db62db5bcccdfa746 SHA-256: 31aa7cc022a4855b4b0e8346891309727956c2f4ff073ce915edaebf79e567d4
162 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and an embedded file, triggering heuristics for PDF JavaScript actions and embedded files. Crucially, it fires a critical heuristic for CVE-2010-0188, indicating an exploit targeting Adobe Reader's LibTIFF handling within XFA forms. This suggests the document is designed to exploit this vulnerability upon opening, likely to download and execute a second-stage payload from the embedded file or a remote source.

Heuristics 8

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains XFA image data with an inline crafted TIFF payload and shellcode/delivery markers. This is the data-bound variant of the CVE-2010-0188 Adobe Reader LibTIFF/XFA exploit shape.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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_obj0004.bin
09fee494af9a0d1564b70bc006d728ca6fe77146d1ab6811ccc3ed4acc84c12f
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 4 at offset 0x1D5 12826 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).