Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 aae12030857690da…

MALICIOUS

PDF

7.9 KB
MD5: 8c902fec23ee34a84c94c8e94e8f22eb SHA-1: 6f69b17ccb4de90d4ad4aaf3ebd3e496b77b4540 SHA-256: aae12030857690da76a1484c8aa547fdd2824a82d8fbd8348deaf2e6e32d03f3
134 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF contains obfuscated JavaScript, identified as a multi-stage dropper. This script utilizes String.fromCharCode with hex decoding and incremental evaluation to build and execute code. The primary function appears to be downloading and executing a second-stage payload, as indicated by the 'PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER' heuristic. ClamAV also detected this file as 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35901'.

Heuristics 7

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35901 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35901
  • Obfuscated multi-stage PDF JavaScript dropper high PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER
    PDF JavaScript shows 5 independent signals of exploit-kit-style multi-stage obfuscation: annot_subject_stage, hex_codec_loop, hex_dashed_payload, incremental_eval_build, repeated_pluginschk. This is strongly consistent with pre-2011 Adobe Reader PDF droppers — OpenAction JS reads encoded data from annotation subjects, decodes it through one or more hex / base-N loops, and invokes eval indirectly (method name built one character at a time). The actual CVE is hidden in the final decoded layer and is not visible via static analysis.
  • 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.
  • String.fromCharCode low PDF_FROMCHARCODE
    String.fromCharCode found — used to construct payload strings dynamically. Common in benign JavaScript libraries for codepoint manipulation, so this alone is informational; weaponised use is also caught by the dedicated fromCharCode-stage and exploit-shape rules. (matched inside decoded stream)
  • syncAnnotScan annotation-staging primitive low PDF_FOXIT_SYNCANNOTSCAN
    PDF JavaScript calls syncAnnotScan() — a no-op annotation-enumeration primitive used by exploit-kit JavaScript to stage payload reads from annotation /Subject fields before eval(). Not a vulnerable sink itself; rarely seen in legitimate PDFs. (matched in decompressed stream)
  • 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 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0005_000.js
4718a27c2224fc36bf24f8e8e04598f1ad78adce4401c7be2708318738a6983d
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 5 at offset 0x148 469 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
ec738f0971bdde0d267f428ac04779300c90527df4a3318f698fdbf6481986a0
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x1AB5 1655 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
deobfuscated.js
e6fb464e5817b45ea3f5797e876bbc58c152d04d87a0678b9dce401d576a185f
deobfuscated-js PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass 24359 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 5 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).