Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a1a9008b30cde65f…

MALICIOUS

PDF

120.4 KB Created: 2007-10-08 00:09:29 Authoring application: PDFCreator Version 0.8.0 (via GNU Ghostscript 7.06) First seen: 2026-05-11
MD5: 9caad3810451a297edda1ea272828f10 SHA-1: 0ed03875d4af19fd48ae79aaa5c7b938d91b9014 SHA-256: a1a9008b30cde65febcb069d76531365f26819e8b8a3243363c53e6ffdeb3870
576 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.007 JavaScript T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The PDF file contains JavaScript that triggers a launch action, executing cmd.exe. This action is designed to export an embedded Windows executable disguised as 'AirFrance.pdf'. The embedded executable was detected by ClamAV as Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0, indicating it's a malicious payload. The overall attack pattern suggests a spearphishing attachment designed to deliver a trojan.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9993

Heuristics 13

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • 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\\AirFrance.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.
  • /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.
  • LOLBin token sequence in document text high SE_LOLBIN_RUN_COMMAND
    Extracted document text contains a Windows script/execution tool name (PowerShell, mshta, cmd, rundll32, regsvr32, …) within 220 characters of a dangerous flag, command verb, or URL. This is a visible 'run this' instruction in HTML/PDF/RTF lure bodies, or — in macro-laden Office files — the macro's own string-pool entries appearing adjacent in extracted text.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium 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.
  • JavaScript action low 1 related finding 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
  • 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://www.zeustech.net/ Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://]hostname[:port]/pathIn extracted file (AirFrance.pdf)
    • https://www.airfrance.fr/cgi-bin/AF/FR/fr/local/resainfovol/achat/PaiemIn PDF document text
    • http://www.apache.org/Referenced by PDF JavaScript

Extracted artifacts 8

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
AirFrance.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 50 at offset 0x130A9 73802 bytes
SHA-256: 573c1c7d2e602a63175e416158ea05f0434919f49fa12a142c78b703d1103c3c
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=AirFrance.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file Static shellcode analysis found candidate code region(s). Indicators: SC_PEB_ACCESS, SC_STR_GETPROCADDRESS Static shellcode analysis recovered API/import strings: kernel32.dll, advapi32.dll, KERNEL32.DLL, ADVAPI32.DLL, LoadLibraryA, GetProcAddress
javascript_obj0051_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 51 at offset 0x1DD82 58 bytes
SHA-256: a505117b12b6e2a37bb474ed31e3c08cb64a035ca61e82186d93bf620b557aa8
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "AirFrance", nLaunch: 0 });
stream_008_off0000900a.bin decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x900A 29771 bytes
SHA-256: e29c90050edd1d68bd2f8a5db91b0a41caeb6cba3b91669d164fc6b75606507e
font_00_sfnt_off000044e8.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x44E8 8004 bytes
SHA-256: 6464a3250425a274fb5721d61a173ae0e617e43106ba68b24ead97e6775c6fa0
font_01_sfnt_off00005557.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x5557 13976 bytes
SHA-256: d6211a7e046695cb32a4150536c9867442d4cd49a05c25107771c0bb563a71cd
font_02_sfnt_off0000745d.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x745D 13680 bytes
SHA-256: 7ca5be7dc78189f1f16272131fd1885d92f23500fa011deabd95f1b3adff9cf5
font_04_cff_off0000cd04.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0xCD04 28461 bytes
SHA-256: 7afb9724c257779c90138b2e449036dfa6345e2c4a10654f3e12fea4a8444e25
font_05_cff_off00010a17.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x10A17 4371 bytes
SHA-256: 936ba1d3029c33ba0d8950e85b87eef5841c92972eb35f758dbdb68fba0301e7