Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a53afd83cb935be4…

MALICIOUS

PDF

2.9 KB Created: 2005-09-29 09:27:34 UTC Authoring application: Acrobat Distiller 8.2.0 (Windows)
MD5: 9a038a60080ce94d97e3f262fffe8226 SHA-1: 86389b83a84c038b89d6c9260af4c62c48bdd98c SHA-256: a53afd83cb935be43fad180c00eecc2cc95ce0a84b6fa2c38719d1c8112a776c
162 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1566.001 Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and an XFA form, which are leveraged to exploit the CVE-2010-0188 vulnerability in Adobe Reader. This exploit is designed to execute arbitrary code, as indicated by the critical heuristic firing for this CVE and the ClamAV detection. An embedded file, 'embedded_file_obj0004.bin', was also extracted, suggesting a multi-stage attack.

Heuristics 8

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains XFA image data with an inline crafted TIFF payload and shellcode/delivery markers. This is the data-bound variant of the CVE-2010-0188 Adobe Reader LibTIFF/XFA exploit shape.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015
  • 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.
  • Embedded file low PDF_EMBEDDED
    PDF embeds a file attachment — could carry an executable or another weaponised document as a nested payload
  • 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
  • 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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_file_obj0004.bin
e0f9333dffb71c4579ce909dbc1d92e2fae3881cd4193071a2d493bfaffc4c15
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 4 at offset 0x1D5 12826 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).