Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 80ed5f9ac6568415…

MALICIOUS

PDF

66.2 KB Created: 2004-08-14 21:48:01 Authoring application: PDFCreator Version 0.8.0 (via AFPL Ghostscript 8.14)
MD5: 2c85ea74880d224c44a59ef3b77be26c SHA-1: 05f01f7a1ab31aa539058913569f7b816d4b815c SHA-256: 80ed5f9ac6568415ae71e852d472385b0b11a40a8b1e8128649e9a530730b92b
556 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.007 JavaScript T1059.003 Windows Command Shell T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that triggers a launch action for cmd.exe. This command execution is part of a chain exploiting CVE-2010-1240, designed to drop and execute a Windows executable payload masquerading as 'a.pdf'. ClamAV detections on both the PDF and the extracted payload confirm its malicious nature.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9999

Heuristics 13

  • Adobe Reader Launch action command execution critical CVE exact CVE_2010_1240
    PDF uses the Adobe Reader/Acrobat Launch action pattern associated with CVE-2010-1240: cmd.exe is invoked with attacker-controlled parameters, paired with an embedded/exported payload.
  • Launch action critical PDF_LAUNCH
    PDF contains a /Launch action whose target is an executable, URL, or UNC path — can start an external application
  • Embedded Windows executable payload in PDF stream critical PDF_EMBEDDED_PE_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an embedded Windows executable with a verified PE header. Exploit chains often hide droppers inside ordinary streams rather than standard /EmbeddedFile attachments.
  • /Launch action target: cmd.exe critical PDF_LAUNCH_COMMAND
    PDF /Launch action specifies an executable target with parameters '/Q /C %HOMEDRIVE%&cd %HOMEPATH%&(if exist "Desktop\\a.pdf" (cd "Desktop"' — references a known-dangerous executable (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).
  • Embedded attachment masquerades: declared document, content is windows-executable critical PDF_EMBEDDED_FILESPEC_CONTENT_MISMATCH
    An /EmbeddedFile attachment's declared filename extension or /Subtype MIME type contradicts the magic bytes of its decompressed content. The attachment is declared as a benign document or image but the bytes are an executable or executable-bearing archive. This is a deliberate deception used to hide droppers in PDF attachments and is a generic indicator of embed-and-drop weaponisation, independent of any specific CVE.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • 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.
  • /Launch action paired with attachment-dropping JS API high PDF_LAUNCH_PLUS_DROPPER_JS
    PDF combines a /Launch action with a JavaScript API call that writes or opens an attached/external resource — the canonical shape of the CVE-2010-1240 /Launch + exportDataObject family. Benign PDFs do not pair these surfaces; the combination indicates a drop-and-execute chain regardless of the specific JS API knobs or /Launch target.
  • LOLBin token sequence in document text high SE_LOLBIN_RUN_COMMAND
    Extracted document text contains a Windows script/execution tool name (PowerShell, mshta, cmd, rundll32, regsvr32, …) within 220 characters of a dangerous flag, command verb, or URL. This is a visible 'run this' instruction in HTML/PDF/RTF lure bodies, or — in macro-laden Office files — the macro's own string-pool entries appearing adjacent in extracted text.
  • 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
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://www.radarhack.com
    • http://www.whitehat.co.il
    • http://www.osvdb.org/548
    • http://www.zeustech.net/
    • http://]hostname[:port]/path
    • http://www.metasploit.com/projects/Framework/downloads.html
    • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-023.mspx
    • http://lists.insecure.org/lists/bugtraq/2001/May/0011.html
    • http://www.apache.org/

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
a.pdf
5e0e50b7622dbcc2a28945d0c059bf4cea187c144326807ad580b95ec873d2e5		 pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 48 at offset 0x57F4 73802 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0
Obfuscation or payload: unlikely
javascript_obj0049_000.js
3505343638f6dc9858d159b020c197aaba8da7d8ae890f622c0c584ff15672cf		 pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 49 at offset 0x10461 50 bytes

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