Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8bc85b3ff742d0dd…

MALICIOUS

PDF

101.1 KB
MD5: dc5c8f448b20f1d4d335b7f979a8b868 SHA-1: a70d25c90d6563044813d1af698cc2007b9f2e4e SHA-256: 8bc85b3ff742d0dd199cfeb7c2b5ac4c8230e16f825948fa41e3738163823d34
268 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File: User Execution T1059.001 Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript

The sample is a PDF file exhibiting critical XFA heap spray and script execution heuristics, indicating it contains exploit code. The embedded script payload and XFA form features strongly suggest the execution of arbitrary code. This is further supported by a high ML classifier score and ClamAV detection as Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0. The primary attack vector appears to be leveraging XFA JavaScript to achieve code execution.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 9

  • XFA form contains risky executable script high CVE related PDF_XFA_SCRIPT
    PDF embeds an XFA form whose script block contains exploit, submission/launch, or shell-execution primitives. Ordinary LiveCycle print/update scripts are left as generic XFA/JS signals unless stronger behavior is present.
  • XFA JavaScript heap-spray exploit code critical PDF_XFA_HEAP_SPRAY
    PDF contains XFA script content with heap-spray or shellcode-like JavaScript markers such as large encoded word sequences, util.pack, large arrays, or spray variable names. This is a weaponised Adobe Reader exploit pattern, not a normal interactive form.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0
  • eval() call high PDF_EVAL
    eval() found — commonly used for obfuscated exploit execution
  • Embedded script payload in PDF stream medium PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an HTML/XFA <script> tag without accompanying Windows shell-execution primitives — common in accessible XFA forms but worth surfacing for analyst review.
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • 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.
  • 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://ns.adobe.com/xdp/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.5/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_pdf_script_0000029e.bin
d080976553e35fef209461d81a24a7f5bb6bf3017cfafabdc55779a96b2fd9cd
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x29E 102719 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 3 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).