Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 3b5e193d1eec2d4d…

MALICIOUS

PDF

180.1 KB
MD5: 5c1b48bee0533b4948f3df70680de514 SHA-1: 6d2872ffa9c86c4f6933064a00f0beb494e48034 SHA-256: 3b5e193d1eec2d4d711fb76f526e3a2b9bf647585a3a4563f92ce5e955738dbf
378 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The sample is a malicious PDF file detected by ClamAV as Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36114. Static analysis revealed multiple critical heuristic firings indicating exploitation of known PDF vulnerabilities including CVE-2009-4324 (media.newPlayer), CVE-2009-0927 (Collab.getIcon), CVE-2007-5659 (Collab.collectEmailInfo), and CVE-2008-2992 (util.printf). These vulnerabilities are used to execute embedded JavaScript. Further analysis of extracted JavaScript artifacts, including legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js, confirms the presence of obfuscated code designed to exploit these vulnerabilities, likely for downloading and executing a secondary payload. The presence of multiple exploit-related detections and the nature of the embedded scripts strongly suggest a malicious intent.

Heuristics 9

  • media.newPlayer — CVE-2009-4324 critical CVE exact CVE_2009_4324
    PDF JavaScript calls media.newPlayer — CVE-2009-4324 is a use-after-free in Adobe Reader's multimedia plugin triggered by media.newPlayer(). Actively exploited as a zero-day in December 2009. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • Collab.getIcon — CVE-2009-0927 critical CVE exact CVE_2009_0927
    PDF JavaScript calls Collab.getIcon — CVE-2009-0927 is a stack buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by Collab.getIcon() with a crafted argument. Allows arbitrary code execution. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • Collab.collectEmailInfo — CVE-2007-5659 critical CVE exact CVE_2007_5659
    PDF JavaScript calls Collab.collectEmailInfo — CVE-2007-5659 is a buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by a long argument or heap-sprayed message field passed to Collab.collectEmailInfo(). Part of a series of Acrobat JS API exploits. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • util.printf — CVE-2008-2992 critical CVE exact CVE_2008_2992
    PDF JavaScript calls util.printf() — CVE-2008-2992 is a stack buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by a long format-specifier argument. Widely exploited in the wild after disclosure. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36114 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36114
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0008_000.js
5a9e721e63527d016ed1efc7a5a2620b50e866f5711442abc6b9192d700b0b33
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 8 at offset 0x1E7 2687 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36307
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
6d04bb9490b1624931f79f2224087a0b279dc39fd73b6abb96f95f41033523b5
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0xC9A 20099 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Js.Exploit.Shellcode-18
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 11 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_001.js
42025b552c7960b53abcd8cd732b01c8d109eccfdfefc352b9826c4d5807d414
deobfuscated-js cross-stage annotation API aliases at offset 0x1E7 81 bytes