Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a3f9966bcca924fe…

MALICIOUS

PDF

13.2 KB
MD5: 235b0791d56a18e168e20a3af465c2c1 SHA-1: 2b44f6c0f995ed4820017381688310816dd451b3 SHA-256: a3f9966bcca924fe545a2983bda17685d509ef94c68da5bf7fa11694d1600ae8
274 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The PDF file contains XFA (XML Forms Architecture) which is known to be vulnerable to heap spray attacks. Specifically, the 'CVE_2010_0188' heuristic firing indicates exploitation of a heap spray vulnerability in Adobe Reader's LibTIFF component via XFA. The embedded JavaScript stream and XFA script further confirm the presence of malicious code designed to trigger this exploit. The primary attack vector is the exploitation of CVE-2010-0188.

Heuristics 10

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains the CVE-2010-0188 exploit template: XFA JavaScript heap-spray setup, a generated TIFF image payload, and assignment of that TIFF data to an XFA image field rawValue to trigger Adobe Reader's LibTIFF parser.
  • XFA form contains executable script high CVE related PDF_XFA_SCRIPT
    PDF embeds an XFA form whose dataset contains a <script> or <xfa:script> block — XFA scripting has been the exploit primitive for several Adobe Reader RCEs (CVE-2010-0188 family, CVE-2018-4901, and others). Plain XFA without scripts is far less risky.
  • XFA JavaScript heap-spray exploit code critical PDF_XFA_HEAP_SPRAY
    PDF contains XFA script content with heap-spray or shellcode-like JavaScript markers such as large encoded word sequences, util.pack, large arrays, or spray variable names. This is a weaponised Adobe Reader exploit pattern, not a normal interactive form.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36755 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36755
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • AcroForm button with action trigger low PDF_ACROFORM_BUTTON
    PDF contains a /Btn form field together with a SubmitForm/URI/Launch/JS trigger — this is the building block of fake 'Download' or 'Open' button overlays used in PDF phishing lures
  • 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://ns.adobe.com/xdp/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.5/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_pdf_script_0000046d.bin
28478b362a4f43dbc76280eacbb1dc5a1a8524247844ee20e1d09d64ff99b6ca
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x46D 12360 bytes