Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 48acfe0fa7d7498d…

MALICIOUS

PDF

29.3 KB
MD5: 9a2e0b4cc5c4d81e48e440c78ae34cd9 SHA-1: 9da88a3f346d93eb6c21b4b6be9474ddc9cce7a3 SHA-256: 48acfe0fa7d7498d19d32ea51a1b55cb3b8d63d9d7822129e52decd1477b48e3
274 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that utilizes `eval()` and `unescape()` functions, indicating obfuscated code execution. This script is responsible for loading an embedded SWF (Flash) file, identified as SWFNAME.swf. The presence of ClamAV detections for 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent' and 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35955' on the main PDF and an extracted artifact respectively, strongly suggests exploitation of PDF vulnerabilities to achieve arbitrary code execution. The overall attack pattern points to a multi-stage exploit chain initiated by the PDF.

Heuristics 10

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36098 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36098
  • 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.
  • RichMedia (Flash) high PDF_RICHMEDIA
    PDF contains /RichMedia (Adobe Flash) which is a historic exploit vector
  • eval() call high PDF_EVAL
    eval() found — commonly used for obfuscated exploit execution (matched inside decoded stream)
  • unescape() call high PDF_UNESCAPE
    unescape() found — often used to decode shellcode in PDF JS exploits (matched inside decoded stream)
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
SWFNAME.swf
a98024b4ee1377e872e3ebaf1c361600c270db5fd5ba79f256106c0c566dde29
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 16 at offset 0xC37 26777 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35955
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact entropy is 7.99, consistent with packed or encrypted content.
javascript_obj0006_000.js
e1ab3bbf30605cecdce6db9d2556198626dbb178f7a4cb471a9436bb6e8bd92f
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 6 at offset 0x83B 462 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 3 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
44d55bd55dafa3d465fa866a1ab97a652a379fcb88d7c7226895a657c6eb3b8d
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x64 3494 bytes