Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 ac1dd0dbab33fad6…

MALICIOUS

PDF

29.3 KB
MD5: 20879d8b7a2e776cc6edccfbf7ec2b7c SHA-1: 3b715395f5750f475d636e118435f197616ee31d SHA-256: ac1dd0dbab33fad65c0a41d4e7fad0f6566d131babe64b801bfaa5ba10a7f8d0
274 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1204 User Execution

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that utilizes `eval()` and `unescape()` functions, indicating obfuscated code execution. This script is likely responsible for downloading and executing a second-stage payload, as suggested by the ClamAV detections of 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent'. The presence of RichMedia (Flash) and embedded files further supports the exploit vector. The extracted JavaScript files are the primary indicators of malicious activity.

Heuristics 10

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36098 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36098
  • ClamAV detection on extracted artifact critical EXTRACTED_FILE_CLAMAV
    ClamAV flagged at least one file extracted from inside this sample. Even when the wrapping document carries no AV detection of its own, a hit on the carved artifact is a strong indicator the sample is a delivery vehicle.
  • RichMedia (Flash) high PDF_RICHMEDIA
    PDF contains /RichMedia (Adobe Flash) which is a historic exploit vector
  • eval() call high PDF_EVAL
    eval() found — commonly used for obfuscated exploit execution (matched inside decoded stream)
  • unescape() call high PDF_UNESCAPE
    unescape() found — often used to decode shellcode in PDF JS exploits (matched inside decoded stream)
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
embedded_file_obj0016.bin
a98024b4ee1377e872e3ebaf1c361600c270db5fd5ba79f256106c0c566dde29
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 16 at offset 0xC28 26777 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35955
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact entropy is 7.99, consistent with packed or encrypted content.
javascript_obj0006_000.js
e1ab3bbf30605cecdce6db9d2556198626dbb178f7a4cb471a9436bb6e8bd92f
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 6 at offset 0x82C 462 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 3 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
3328d17077e9968e7790f49b3b986c29b5513c894e6d689157185ed46804a0be
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x64 3470 bytes