Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a538dcb64eac8228…

MALICIOUS

PDF

106.9 KB Created: 2021-07-23 09:05:02 +03:00 Authoring application: wkhtmltopdf 0.12.5 (via Qt 5.11.3) First seen: 2021-11-21
MD5: 74639481af0d216f0ae88f3dbbb977f5 SHA-1: 0f61c738acd6d1f8e5f953b98a74d9bf389a6ed2 SHA-256: a538dcb64eac82281a24df8fde043ca5e9c314350f700d398a214c1a7bba759e
156 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1204.002 Malicious Link

The PDF file was detected as malicious by ClamAV and an ML classifier, indicating a high likelihood of malicious intent. Heuristics identified it as a link farm, with numerous URLs pointing to potentially compromised WordPress sites and disposable hosting. The document body is heavily obfuscated, preventing a clear understanding of its specific lure, but the presence of many external links strongly suggests a phishing or malware distribution attempt.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9976

Heuristics 6

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Phishing.Trojan-d2568dad23a94d95-d2568dad23a94d95-10044375-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Phishing.Trojan-d2568dad23a94d95-d2568dad23a94d95-10044375-0
  • PDF link farm points to compromised-WordPress upload storage medium PDF_COMPROMISED_CMS_UPLOAD_LINK_FARM
    PDF contains multiple clickable links, across many distinct hosts, whose targets are random-slug files parked in the upload directories of vulnerable WordPress form plugins (FormCraft, Super Forms). This is the hallmark of the 'free document/template' SEO phishing PDF family, which ranks for search queries and routes users into payload/redirect chains hosted on compromised sites. The PDF itself carries no exploit — the risk is the linked destinations.
  • Small PDF is a non-clustered link farm on disposable hosting medium PDF_SEO_DISPOSABLE_LINK_FARM
    Small PDF contains many clickable external PDF links spread thin across many distinct hosts (no single dominant host), corroborated by a utm_term SEO-redirector link and/or links parked on free/disposable content hosts. This is the 'free document/template' SEO phishing PDF family, which ranks for search queries and routes users into payload/redirect chains, rather than a normal document citation pattern. The PDF itself carries no exploit — the risk is the linked destinations.
  • External URI info PDF_URI
    PDF contains an external URL action
  • Object number defined twice with different bodies info PDF_DUPLICATE_OBJ_BODY_INCREMENTAL
    The same indirect object (N G) is defined more than once with different body bytes. First-wins and last-wins readers will resolve different content, which is a parser-confusion shape used by targeted PDFs. Body-only differences are common in benign incremental updates, so severity is raised only when the duplicate carries active content.
  • 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 https://popcouncilinstitute.org/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/ff3aff4c4dd6ce92153ba980306a5328/70437594258.pdf In PDF document text
    • http://www.chicagoalphas.com/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/content/files/160be9561bf957---jelarurimosogawudejig.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://mikepromedia.com/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/35sk00upb27i3b3f9mp0adlof3/forosesofimeji.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://moskvaznaet.ru/upload/files/15076441917.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://celovechurch.org/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/bcc9be99439b72702c674beb6c83ac8b/47378959863.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://earthideasawnings.com/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/content/files/160de03490e9ce---jupeberaduzuderiziba.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://imagespa.mx/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/content/files/16076a12c01545---15954043683.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://maxim-catering.de/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/6fov1j0c0ds0pngk85uvcs0avh/38264249038.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://ehomeforeclosure.org/images/file/gerovirulakulozosuw.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://faceless.me/userfiles/files/61656207183.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://twxcd.com/img-aim/files/zilanizorabu.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://cloverdiamond.com/file/likixibenuza.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://vtaky.sk/media/file/70321713449.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://atolab.it/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/22e969ee1486d3c6f5ba20421182a047/97386304527.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://www.jahnigterbraak.nl/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/content/files/160a9360d02bbe---rufamipasunimijakaduva.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://www.americanapi.com/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/content/files/160923ed0a65e2---mejusadabudepovibita.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://noble-worldwide.com/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/20b3aba9b6062451fa62fcbfc9a3b0b7/91240106751.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://studiogreenwich.ru/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/d75ff465df3da673dceb5a1be6826270/diliw.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://diennuocdanang.com/uploads/image/files/zimosudavewu.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://www.carrentchiengmai.com/files/96308067712.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://fincasotilloviejo.es/files/sotillo/_repo/file/famadarobenelenoru.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://ipceurope.eu/assets/file/zoxage.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://pvsystexperts.com/wp-content/plugins/super-forms/uploads/php/files/nuacgrsqdgckhnvoff8lk3lts6/38128061156.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://creationstationdance.com/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/content/files/160baff629b4e2---buxalojopekepuginudalofoz.pdfIn PDF document text
    • https://feedproxy.google.com/~r/skout/mBVl/~3/fzgW7-mxBc0/uplcv?utm_term=day+in+the+life+of+a+microbiologistPDF link annotation
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In PDF document text
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/rights/In PDF document text
    • http://dejavu.sourceforge.netIn PDF document text
    • http://dejavu.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/LicenseIn PDF document text

Extracted artifacts 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
font_00_sfnt_off00014073.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x14073 16792 bytes
SHA-256: 9d2294e344127da9ddc2b77d68b1576b6b78373885bc9da2859f180a98f2c1e1
font_01_sfnt_off0001588a.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x1588A 11036 bytes
SHA-256: 13b12b8ceedc5fc2653348f67d2d590af71bc5927ab663883169679ff7f15386
font_02_sfnt_off00017208.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x17208 16780 bytes
SHA-256: 186754c5fe5ea6a2e8d8ed62dc24616ddacd3695e077fb9ca47512e666f21e16

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