Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 9f8501dcf0e1799e…

MALICIOUS

PDF

7.7 KB
MD5: f3fc593d410ab2bf725014778a01f8d4 SHA-1: 9aba101963309c1febbec7956ee6ca8de0199eed SHA-256: 9f8501dcf0e1799e40e904cc49774a697323a6dec9bc899649bd10f47f6ab88e
224 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF exploits CVE-2007-5659 by leveraging a JavaScript action within an annotation subject. This JavaScript is heavily obfuscated and appears to be a dropper, indicated by heuristics like 'Obfuscated multi-stage PDF JavaScript dropper' and 'ML classifier flagged this PDF'. The script decodes a hex-dashed payload and uses incremental eval to build its execution logic. The primary goal is to download and execute a second-stage payload, as suggested by the dropper nature and the presence of deobfuscated JavaScript files.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 8

  • Collab.collectEmailInfo — CVE-2007-5659 critical CVE exact CVE_2007_5659
    PDF JavaScript calls Collab.collectEmailInfo — CVE-2007-5659 is a buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by a long argument or heap-sprayed message field passed to Collab.collectEmailInfo(). Part of a series of Acrobat JS API exploits. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35902 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35902
  • 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 4

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0005_000.js
3cf6a22459cda11e607fc9e0dc0c88d01a8425e26488ff87df38d855ceb4dccf
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 5 at offset 0x148 465 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
fae9150c992d7303944230ca13b0b68226c024248c3c8d9081a32f0ac3fa754f
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x19A8 1643 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_001.js
c4578838b37437c6003a042adc6df569b383be78a360dd1107e9b721f11258c4
deobfuscated-js annotation-subject callee-key decoded JavaScript at offset 0x347 4659 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 4 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
deobfuscated.js
ee32d98c073be7eeeeaa25b416001dfd7be9430ba474e9906b571c4e8651107b
deobfuscated-js PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass 23216 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 5 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).