Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 4301ac4cf4baeaca…

MALICIOUS

PDF

12.8 KB
MD5: f24e01e9246bcc10355dc90c750795a7 SHA-1: 168dd2dec22fe8beb93d5639f8b9455a4d767b66 SHA-256: 4301ac4cf4baeaca8f52d532e6d770d686dbe2963a4cc31a93e800b6c5f8bc5a
214 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The PDF file contains an XFA form that triggers an embedded JavaScript payload. This script is designed to exploit the CVE-2010-0188 vulnerability in Adobe Reader, leading to arbitrary code execution. The embedded script is the primary mechanism for delivering the exploit, and the ClamAV detection confirms its malicious nature. The URL provided appears to be related to XFA schema but is not directly used in the exploit chain.

Heuristics 9

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains the CVE-2010-0188 exploit template: XFA JavaScript heap-spray setup, a generated TIFF image payload, and assignment of that TIFF data to an XFA image field rawValue to trigger Adobe Reader's LibTIFF parser.
  • XFA form contains executable script high CVE related PDF_XFA_SCRIPT
    PDF embeds an XFA form whose dataset contains a <script> or <xfa:script> block — XFA scripting has been the exploit primitive for several Adobe Reader RCEs (CVE-2010-0188 family, CVE-2018-4901, and others). Plain XFA without scripts is far less risky.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.5/

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_pdf_script_000003ce.bin
6b9c34bccb67706b606c9259e9a8f4d9430c3b8d2c701f46bfe7f2dee060c94a
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x3CE 12145 bytes