Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 993a4fb85d92a034…

MALICIOUS

PDF

104.7 KB
MD5: c7c12c6d7b458fec902c3e572775480e SHA-1: b8926680731c1e937ba6be6d16854b34204cd3fe SHA-256: 993a4fb85d92a034f617ee269fc4985564a4aadbaf9ba00e55e0c1781ead6c1b
228 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File: User Execution T1566.002 Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information

The PDF exhibits multiple high-severity indicators of maliciousness, including XFA form scripting, unescape calls, and embedded file payloads. ClamAV detection as 'Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78' further confirms its malicious nature. The presence of XFA scripting and embedded files suggests the PDF is designed to exploit vulnerabilities and download a second-stage payload.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 8

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78
  • unescape() call high PDF_UNESCAPE
    unescape() found — often used to decode shellcode in PDF JS exploits (matched inside decoded stream)
  • 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.
  • ASCIIHexDecode filter (with exploit indicators) medium PDF_FILTER_HEX
    Hex-encoding filter present alongside exploit delivery indicators — often used to hide payload or shellcode bytes
  • 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
  • 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_obj0008.bin
bf471b02555cb0ae217f56a1b68080ff7aa07b8ec3d464d13a6d574354db9e3f
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 8 at offset 0xE2 15203 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).