PDF malware analysis — malicious · 952177158fe34acd

MALICIOUS

PDF

144.2 KB Authoring application: cairo 1.8.0 (http://cairographics.org

MD5: 997bb9b0849d621664b087b249cc045f SHA-1: 251de06bed2fae41dfc08bcff20df897ebc586af SHA-256: 952177158fe34acd6e573be5a3dcffee7761252f50764a3aa5dacead786f57c6

536 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK

T1204.002 Malicious File T1566.002 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.001 User Execution: Malicious Link T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information

This PDF document is designed as a phishing lure, presenting itself as a 'CanadaPost_Invoice_Notice_9381747173.pdf' to trick the user. It contains embedded JavaScript that triggers a launch action, executing cmd.exe to drop and run a Windows executable payload. The embedded executable was detected by ClamAV as 'Win.Trojan.Zbot-48272', indicating a likely information-stealing or banking trojan. The use of a deceptive filename and an embedded executable payload points to a social engineering attack aimed at tricking users into executing malware.

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.
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\\CanadaPost_Invoice_Notice_9381747173.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.Dropper.Agent-7284125-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION

ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Dropper.Agent-7284125-0
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.
Image-only document with action trigger (screenshot lure) medium PDF_IMAGE_LURE

PDF has 1 image(s), only 0 text block(s), carries a click-outward action, and is only 144 KB — typical shape of a phishing lure where a full-page screenshot hides a clickable button that launches or submits to an attacker URL.
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
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://cairographics.org

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

Filename	Kind	Source	Size
`CanadaPost_Invoice_Notice_9381747173.pdf` `7a475ebc41b8cfae1bca792c5860c6adaac3753d690d9f610436740ff7a9cec9`	pdf-embedded-file	PDF EmbeddedFile object 15 at offset 0x991D	131072 bytes
Detection ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Zbot-48272 Obfuscation or payload: likely Carved artifact entropy is 7.53, consistent with packed or encrypted content.
`javascript_obj0016_000.js` `a6c4d6ad7a0d4cf8afc2424a8c7f791cf343b7b8dcd94a8a2d85a8a6a1c51c24`	pdf-javascript-stream	PDF /JS object 16 at offset 0x23C65	85 bytes

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