Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 7193c9c042dea175…

MALICIOUS

PDF

6.7 KB Created: 2009-11-17 23:22:12 Authoring application: Scribus 1.3.5svn (via Scribus PDF Library 1.3.5svn)
MD5: e9d5d160081d6c9a24c0ed37c8740f46 SHA-1: 46f5a1bc519740be95f1c2b10d304680c2fb0f1a SHA-256: 7193c9c042dea175091f233ff29dca397d6f2cdc0f2f61274d254c19758ec5f9
218 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.007 JavaScript T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF contains obfuscated JavaScript that utilizes `unescape()` and `String.fromCharCode()` functions, indicating an attempt to hide malicious code. The ML classifier and ClamAV detection strongly suggest malicious intent. The script is designed to download and execute a second-stage payload, as evidenced by the exploit cluster heuristics and the nature of dropper malware.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 8

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Dropper.Agent-1828783 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Dropper.Agent-1828783
  • 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.
  • 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)
  • PDF differential parser failed info PDF_DIFFERENTIAL_PARSE_FAILED
    The cross-check parser (pdfminer.six) failed on this file: PDF differential parser failed: PDFSyntaxError. Static heuristics still ran and any of their findings above are valid; only the differential cross-check signal is missing.
  • 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_obj0016_001.js
d478bc00a570c7b7ed8c0736a541b28c720f9da6e3bd5d0d72226fbe6c319b0b
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 16 at offset 0xC9A 12549 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 3 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).