Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a1f0ac8636599473…

MALICIOUS

PDF

30.9 KB Created: 2018-06-11 09:37:09 -04:00 Authoring application: wkhtmltopdf 0.12.4 (via Qt 4.8.7) First seen: 2020-09-24
MD5: f1b706d924a730fb0382b546953c0e6a SHA-1: 9e1dbd43b173236ee01a443853aa3250ac3c28d3 SHA-256: a1f0ac86365994737e2b2b667e880c50ae21e3d292bd7bd13b0b9c74824ba7c2
130 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains embedded URLs and a heuristic firing for a visual download button, suggesting a social engineering lure. The ML classifier also flagged the document as malicious with high confidence. The primary malicious URLs point to a PHP script that likely serves a secondary payload. No scripts were extracted from this sample, limiting the ability to determine the exact execution flow.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9276

Heuristics 4

  • Fake 'free download' SEO-poisoning PDF critical PDF_SEO_FAKE_DOWNLOAD
    The ML classifier flagged this PDF AND it carries a visual download/call-to-action lure AND an off-domain server-side download-gateway link whose query string names a document payload. This three-signal conjunction is the fake-document / 'free PDF download' SEO-poisoning delivery pattern: the page is padded with benign decoy links to dilute classifier scores while funnelling the victim through the gateway to malware/scareware. Acting only on the conjunction keeps benign download-bearing PDFs from being misflagged.
  • PDF carries a PHP-gateway SEO-spam PDF link farm medium PDF_SEO_PHP_GATEWAY_LINK_FARM
    PDF contains four or more clickable links whose target is a `.php` gateway with a multi-word search-PHRASE document slug embedded after it (e.g. 'index.php?.../binary+options+trading+nz.pdf' or 'pdf.php/cialis-dosage-side-effects.pdf'). Legitimate PHP-served documents use a filename or numeric id, not a search-query phrase, so this is the generated SEO link-farm shape — pharma / binary-options / 'free download' spam that ranks for queries and routes users into payload/redirect chains. The PDF itself carries no exploit — the risk is the linked destinations.
  • Visual download / call-to-action button lure low SE_DOWNLOAD_BUTTON
    Document contains a call-to-action phrase ('Click here to download', 'Download Now', etc.) — low-signal unless other findings point to a malicious workflow
  • 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://uncpbisdegree.com/download3.php?q=ten-men-won-the-league.pdf In PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/download4.php?q=ten-men-won-the-league.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://duchyleague.com/In PDF document text
    • https://www.crichq.com/In PDF document text
    • http://sbl.asn.au/In PDF document text
    • http://www.bankrollsports.com/NCAA-Football/Championships.shtmlIn PDF document text
    • http://www.majorleagueeating.com/news.phpIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/stem-cells-in-regenerative-medicine.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/tom-corbett-space-cadet-danger-in-deep-space.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/t-28-natops-manual.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/structural-analysis-ii-lecture-notes.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/the-plague-dogs-richard-adams.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/the-forgotten-man.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/transformed-by-the-trinity-living-in-the-fullness-of-the-father-son-and-holy-spirit.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/stickley-furniture-price-list.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/the-multivariate-social-scientist-introductory-statistics-using-generalized-linear-models.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/solution-manual-of-introduction-to-management-science-13th-edition.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://www.ascendercorp.com/In PDF document text
    • http://www.ascendercorp.com/typedesigners.htmlIn PDF document text
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Conference_Men%27s_Basketball_TournamentIn PDF document text
    • http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/standings/_/id/7/big-ten-conferenceIn PDF document text
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_ConferenceIn PDF document text
    • http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20180426/ohio-state-sweeps-big-ten-mens-tennis-awardsIn PDF document text
    • http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/hockey/4423684-college-mens-hockey-no-one-laughing-big-ten-now-going-2018-frozen-fourIn PDF document text
    • https://www.football365.com/features/topical-top-tenIn PDF document text
    • http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&sid=milbIn PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839&CLCID=0409In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=246338&CLCID=0409In PDF document text
    • https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=868922In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=286759&CLCID=409In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=617297In PDF document text
    • https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LiberationFontLicenseIn PDF document text

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
font_00_sfnt_off00003f88.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x3F88 9944 bytes
SHA-256: 989c7e5b68e988ba180a949269e62827f127d101f66c1983d70c85847777d8ac
font_01_sfnt_off00005f39.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x5F39 6812 bytes
SHA-256: 3ec4017f4d0e5b5a06f382d73e90cc9fb60e38e71dc8202eaaf00b6844987c5d