Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 89a9402b5b553a53…

MALICIOUS

PDF

8.2 KB
MD5: 5b3d39690932167641176463407a7510 SHA-1: 7815e0a2f9634ee617361755101c68cc37b5622a SHA-256: 89a9402b5b553a53c0ed49062f7c281562f95186443c9cbbe0f7629162b2beeb
134 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF contains heavily obfuscated JavaScript, identified by heuristics such as 'PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER'. This script is designed to decode and execute a secondary payload, likely from a remote source. The ClamAV detection 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35916' further confirms its malicious nature. The primary attack vector appears to be leveraging embedded JavaScript within the PDF to initiate a download and execution chain.

Heuristics 7

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35916 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35916
  • Obfuscated multi-stage PDF JavaScript dropper high PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER
    PDF JavaScript shows 5 independent signals of exploit-kit-style multi-stage obfuscation: annot_subject_stage, hex_codec_loop, hex_dashed_payload, incremental_eval_build, repeated_pluginschk. This is strongly consistent with pre-2011 Adobe Reader PDF droppers — OpenAction JS reads encoded data from annotation subjects, decodes it through one or more hex / base-N loops, and invokes eval indirectly (method name built one character at a time). The actual CVE is hidden in the final decoded layer and is not visible via static analysis.
  • 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)
  • syncAnnotScan annotation-staging primitive low PDF_FOXIT_SYNCANNOTSCAN
    PDF JavaScript calls syncAnnotScan() — a no-op annotation-enumeration primitive used by exploit-kit JavaScript to stage payload reads from annotation /Subject fields before eval(). Not a vulnerable sink itself; rarely seen in legitimate PDFs. (matched in decompressed stream)
  • 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 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0005_000.js
6c41320119e160dc719997b9a2efb3600ea9d7e9d7e44b4dc2125762dc9f365f
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 5 at offset 0x148 505 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
a620758ec1203487e6caca7f3f917cf99e908b242e53c82031658fbb4e319dd3
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x1BAF 1704 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
deobfuscated.js
f1cf372354b22a43b9bf4999505f3998ec05edf8edbaf81145e5690be4b7d55b
deobfuscated-js PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass 50485 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 7 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).