Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 681cfc818e3f5a68…

MALICIOUS

PDF

7.4 KB Created: 2009-12-17 16:59:10 Authoring application: Scribus 1.3.3.12 (via Scribus PDF Library 1.3.3.12)
MD5: f050d24dd60f064a9390849f1cbc6f79 SHA-1: 433d2216a8fffc397faefef5803f15a370ad8fba SHA-256: 681cfc818e3f5a68c33c58e1b5eda784f96cceed4ca7cbaf5488d28aa427735d
188 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.007 JavaScript T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that utilizes eval() and unescape() functions, indicating an attempt to exploit a known PDF vulnerability. The script appears to be designed to download and execute a second-stage payload, as suggested by the use of eval() and the construction of a string that likely represents a malicious URL or command. The ML classifier strongly flags this PDF as malicious.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9998

Heuristics 6

  • PDF JavaScript exploit cluster critical PDF_JS_EXPLOIT_CLUSTER
    PDF combines an executable JavaScript/action surface with exploit staging indicators such as eval/unescape/fromCharCode, XFA script content, or a related CVE pattern. Benign form JavaScript remains low-severity, but this correlated cluster is high-confidence malicious behavior.
  • 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.
  • 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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0021_000.js
2fb663189aea1e136bc234a28889fabe0710d6951c07b9ed7ee62101b3175016
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 21 at offset 0x1883 621 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).