PDF malware analysis — malicious · 42c1faac0e0aa248

MALICIOUS

PDF

15.1 KB

MD5: d972fa2b2367ed6c7077729b0e5dc465 SHA-1: 4755dd38490971b7dc901d74eca15b40b6df6863 SHA-256: 42c1faac0e0aa2485c32d2cc9b0c444a5c83992542c1f282f6f88a647307334e

194 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK

T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information

The sample is a PDF file that contains heavily obfuscated JavaScript. The heuristics indicate that this JavaScript is a multi-stage dropper designed to exploit CVE-2007-5659 using the Collab.collectEmailInfo primitive. The deobfuscation process revealed layered obfuscation techniques including hex-codec loops and incremental eval builds, ultimately leading to the execution of a second-stage payload. The ClamAV detection further confirms its malicious nature.

Heuristics 8

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 static deobfuscation)
ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35901 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION

ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35901
Obfuscated multi-stage PDF JavaScript dropper high PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER

PDF JavaScript shows 5 independent signals of exploit-kit-style multi-stage obfuscation: annot_subject_stage, hex_codec_loop, hex_dashed_payload, incremental_eval_build, repeated_pluginschk. This is strongly consistent with pre-2011 Adobe Reader PDF droppers — OpenAction JS reads encoded data from annotation subjects, decodes it through one or more hex / base-N loops, and invokes eval indirectly (method name built one character at a time). The actual CVE is hidden in the final decoded layer and is not visible via static analysis.
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.
String.fromCharCode low PDF_FROMCHARCODE

String.fromCharCode found — used to construct payload strings dynamically. Common in benign JavaScript libraries for codepoint manipulation, so this alone is informational; weaponised use is also caught by the dedicated fromCharCode-stage and exploit-shape rules. (matched inside decoded stream)
syncAnnotScan annotation-staging primitive low PDF_FOXIT_SYNCANNOTSCAN

PDF JavaScript calls syncAnnotScan() — a no-op annotation-enumeration primitive used by exploit-kit JavaScript to stage payload reads from annotation /Subject fields before eval(). Not a vulnerable sink itself; rarely seen in legitimate PDFs. (matched in decompressed stream)
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.

Filename	Kind	Source	Size
`javascript_obj0005_000.js` `4718a27c2224fc36bf24f8e8e04598f1ad78adce4401c7be2708318738a6983d`	pdf-javascript-stream	PDF /JS object 5 at offset 0x148	469 bytes
Detection ClamAV: No threats found Obfuscation or payload: likely Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
`legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js` `f2c65955cdbfdab66efbb5d2def0e5af977f4ee9c9ca4615c4cf511e645ccecc`	deobfuscated-js	repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x196F	12017 bytes
Detection ClamAV: No threats found Obfuscation or payload: likely Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).
`deobfuscated.js` `5e1490406b6cc0599543269cba9d0ee089e4acabdf04faa8f18895db0593f21a`	deobfuscated-js	PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass	124861 bytes
Detection ClamAV: No threats found Obfuscation or payload: likely Carved artifact contains 9 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 2 long base64-like blob(s).

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