Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 818beaccbc9e0adb…

MALICIOUS

PDF

192.4 KB Created: 2017-11-20 21:39:05 +01:00 Authoring application: Microsoft® Word 2016 First seen: 2026-05-04
MD5: 802d9d4be470b048d45bfaca4e302f8a SHA-1: 04b6a14ebd25eba5c7becb872037a6e876b83437 SHA-256: 818beaccbc9e0adbd1b00a4208e45847bf5ffeede192252084fcd908e852bbe5
636 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains JavaScript that triggers a launch action, executing cmd.exe. This command then attempts to launch an embedded Windows executable, disguised as 'Text.pdf'. The JavaScript also contains URLs, including one pointing to 'www.zeustech.net', which is suspicious. The combination of a launch action, embedded executable, and JavaScript strongly indicates a malicious dropper.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 14

  • 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.
  • TrueType bitmap font + active content — CVE-2023-26369 related high CVE related PDF_CVE_2023_26369_RELATED
    PDF embeds a TrueType font with bitmap tables (EBDT/sbix/CBDT) alongside exploit delivery indicators — CVE-2023-26369 exploits the sfac_GetSbitBitmap function in Adobe's libCoolType for arbitrary code execution. This CVE was actively exploited in the wild, but this rule does not validate the malformed EBLC/EBDT primitive.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • 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\\Text.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.
  • JavaScript action low 2 related findings PDF_JAVASCRIPT
    PDF contains a /JavaScript action. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • /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.
  • 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.
  • 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.zeustech.net/ Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://]hostname[:port]/pathIn extracted file (Text.pdf)
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/In PDF document text
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In PDF document text
    • http://www.apache.org/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfontshttp://lucasfonts.comMicrosoftIn extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_LicenseIn extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.aspxIn extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicrosoftTimeStampPCA.crl0XIn extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/pki/certs/MicrosoftTimeStampPCA.crt0In extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/MicCodSigPCA_08-31-2010.crl0ZIn extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/pki/certs/MicCodSigPCA_08-31-2010.crt0In extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://crl.microsoft.com/pki/crl/products/microsoftrootcert.crl0TIn extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/pki/certs/MicrosoftRootCert.crt0In extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)
    • http://www.microsoft.com/Typography/0In extracted file (stream_002_off0000088d.bin)

Extracted artifacts 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
Text.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 26 at offset 0x25042 73802 bytes
SHA-256: 45fb93f3ed5e191e1db71e5a94f57a9def7b644a3f361c5f8c88bf682d93d141
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=Text.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file
javascript_obj0027_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 27 at offset 0x2FC36 53 bytes
SHA-256: 825a056d219ac1f7a40ae5cf95071af95ec7025a5f18c94183b5547e3fe54f63
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "Text", nLaunch: 0 });
stream_002_off0000088d.bin decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x88D 339028 bytes
SHA-256: c018ee272cc4fc8782ac987efa58411d8fbca6d2ebcc5e0ba7817636d89e91b0