Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 48493189ed41b1d0…

MALICIOUS

PDF

7.6 KB
MD5: dedcb4b3e715d6d4e1f705693926ee34 SHA-1: 3090536e8738e0fb97ba8bc9eff5d961692aa116 SHA-256: 48493189ed41b1d0d0ae1cdcbe9158584471c6727bfdbed15fac50ab9442c191
194 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that is heavily obfuscated and uses techniques like String.fromCharCode and incremental evaluation to build its payload. The critical heuristic 'CVE_2007_5659: Collab.collectEmailInfo' indicates exploitation of this specific vulnerability. The obfuscated JavaScript dropper is designed to download and execute a second-stage payload, as suggested by the 'PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER' heuristic. 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 JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35916 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35916
  • 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 4

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0005_000.js
6c41320119e160dc719997b9a2efb3600ea9d7e9d7e44b4dc2125762dc9f365f
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 5 at offset 0x148 505 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
481da50e3974ce443ad2b18ed78f1700593c2b01db281dbbda77e3dde7476b90
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x1951 1755 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_001.js
9041906fc9af12e8edabbc0a518f73fa254b8cac21e0295321549890ae72d15f
deobfuscated-js annotation-subject callee-key decoded JavaScript at offset 0x352 4607 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 4 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
deobfuscated.js
11b5457c391f2db3ed25005962cf2eee1d7a1cf8c2c32d012d683524d5ae84e5
deobfuscated-js PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass 23503 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 7 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).