Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 7a2a178168af3dc4…

MALICIOUS

PDF

25.4 KB Created: 2011-72-51 03:25:00 Authoring application: String.fromCharCode
MD5: e95aa831a748f67e9186aa0754b0a586 SHA-1: fb4e33418ff3511c4a9b3fb92ef38b8ea7bba8b6 SHA-256: 7a2a178168af3dc4a03e16dcd43c573134d31ffe8a9b833aebb1b5b20bbde79d
378 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.001 Malicious Link

This PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that leverages multiple critical vulnerabilities including CVE-2009-4324 (media.newPlayer), CVE-2009-0927 (Collab.getIcon), CVE-2007-5659 (Collab.collectEmailInfo), and CVE-2008-2992 (util.printf). The JavaScript is obfuscated and appears to be a stager, indicated by the 'PDF_INFO_ARITHMETIC_JS_STAGER' and 'PDF_METADATA_EVAL_STAGER' heuristics. The primary function of this stager is to download and execute a second-stage payload. The ML classifier also strongly indicates maliciousness.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 10

  • media.newPlayer — CVE-2009-4324 critical CVE exact CVE_2009_4324
    PDF JavaScript calls media.newPlayer — CVE-2009-4324 is a use-after-free in Adobe Reader's multimedia plugin triggered by media.newPlayer(). Actively exploited as a zero-day in December 2009. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • Collab.getIcon — CVE-2009-0927 critical CVE exact CVE_2009_0927
    PDF JavaScript calls Collab.getIcon — CVE-2009-0927 is a stack buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by Collab.getIcon() with a crafted argument. Allows arbitrary code execution. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • 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)
  • util.printf — CVE-2008-2992 critical CVE exact CVE_2008_2992
    PDF JavaScript calls util.printf() — CVE-2008-2992 is a stack buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by a long format-specifier argument. Widely exploited in the wild after disclosure. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • PDF metadata arithmetic JavaScript stager high PDF_INFO_ARITHMETIC_JS_STAGER
    PDF metadata hides JavaScript as arithmetic character-code tokens inside document information fields, then a launcher rebuilds it with String.fromCharCode and eval. The decoder is gated on metadata access from the launcher, a large arithmetic token table, and recovered exploit-like JavaScript.
  • PDF metadata JavaScript eval stager high PDF_METADATA_EVAL_STAGER
    PDF JavaScript reads document metadata fields such as title, subject, or producer, decodes character data with parseInt/String.fromCharCode style helpers, and evals the recovered stage. This is a high-signal exploit-kit staging pattern.
  • 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.
  • 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 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0001_000.js
a38ffb4cd3769bd5d99fb5c77c488422964c3495e5a97a171d86e5856abbc148
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 1 at offset 0x629C 521 bytes
info_arithmetic_stage_000.js
037e68e57c5e9909f493d60b0dd44230e2b1d3332d0cc02ef2586917249bbcf0
deobfuscated-js PDF /Info Title arithmetic JavaScript at offset 0x23 3666 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 11 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).