Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8c26c46cb524418d…

MALICIOUS

PDF

2.9 KB Created: 2005-09-29 09:27:34 UTC Authoring application: Acrobat Distiller 8.2.0 (Windows)
MD5: 73cb377c53c78467ce19cdf60619d4ee SHA-1: 487e6f5c0e1ee00c0ef203304709f4d53747e7ee SHA-256: 8c26c46cb524418de21dc66c7e579e1e288cbbc7ae7843b837820ed1e152524d
162 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and an embedded file, triggering heuristics for JavaScript actions and embedded files. Crucially, it fires critical heuristics for CVE-2010-0188, indicating an exploit targeting Adobe Reader's LibTIFF component via an XFA image. This suggests the document is designed to deliver a second-stage payload, likely contained within the embedded file, by exploiting this known vulnerability.

Heuristics 8

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains XFA image data with an inline crafted TIFF payload and shellcode/delivery markers. This is the data-bound variant of the CVE-2010-0188 Adobe Reader LibTIFF/XFA exploit shape.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015
  • 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
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • AcroForm button with action trigger low PDF_ACROFORM_BUTTON
    PDF contains a /Btn form field together with a SubmitForm/URI/Launch/JS trigger — this is the building block of fake 'Download' or 'Open' button overlays used in PDF phishing lures
  • 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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_file_obj0004.bin
5f98536adf43ae74aa00465f9b9510dd2240b5cc2dd06ef1d783204616be561d
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 4 at offset 0x1D5 12826 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).