Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 a78152b5d92d21b8…

MALICIOUS

PDF

3.0 KB Created: 2005-09-29 09:27:34 UTC Authoring application: Acrobat Distiller 8.2.0 (Windows)
MD5: 3b93249435c127ca89c9e07810e245a3 SHA-1: 07a08e7e904d73248204f26fead6ba08c99e944e SHA-256: a78152b5d92d21b831485f76535d0c3abb42b1b0444afed4f34cdeff6bc776b5
162 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and an XFA form, triggering a critical heuristic for the CVE-2010-0188 exploit targeting Adobe Reader's LibTIFF component. This exploit is designed for client-side code execution. An embedded file, 'embedded_file_obj0004.bin', was also extracted, suggesting it may contain a second-stage payload. The document body is unreadable, but the exploit and embedded file strongly indicate a malicious intent to compromise the user's system.

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
7e7bd35e4588c023077babd67410ebc64dfa9d8babc3dccc4ec3ab3340ad0c69
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).