Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 7b1e820c5c86b9ef…

MALICIOUS

PDF

244.6 KB
MD5: 1436464c297805faa73ff1f061ee6cd1 SHA-1: 7052745ed425850665ed73a6680c6f8f3ffc3387 SHA-256: 7b1e820c5c86b9efe0cda8f966c92fe1d58aabeade9e9263c1c75e57a82abc9d
300 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains a launch action that executes cmd.exe, which in turn appears to initiate a script. This script is likely responsible for downloading and executing a second-stage payload, as indicated by the ClamAV detections for dropper-type malware. The embedded script payload and the PDF launch action are strong indicators of a malicious dropper.

Heuristics 6

  • Launch action critical PDF_LAUNCH
    PDF contains a /Launch action whose target is an executable, URL, or UNC path — can start an external application
  • /Launch action target: cmd.exe critical PDF_LAUNCH_COMMAND
    PDF /Launch action specifies an executable target with parameters '/c echo Set fso=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject"' — references a known-dangerous executable (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).
  • ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Dropper-132 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Win.Trojan.Dropper-132
  • 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.
  • Embedded script payload in PDF stream high PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain script execution markers such as ActiveXObject/CreateObject, WScript.Shell, PowerShell, or shell-exec primitives. This is stronger than ordinary PDF JavaScript because it indicates a staged external script payload hidden in stream bytes.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium 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
embedded_pdf_script_0003cc93.bin
8172b4a816aac7e5a0eaece57d168fcc2bc2029ead88e984731d7267d8401bb4
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x3CC93 248958 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Dropper-133
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 shell/COM execution token(s).