Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 b738850cb02e9334…

MALICIOUS

PDF

112.8 KB
MD5: 5f598e6234c1c0bc6e797cbdc9adf8cd SHA-1: fdc78e15f1264c9a1a5882b54e1ece794f4634c9 SHA-256: b738850cb02e9334935b97211a702b0919322c0e54036ae79fd8937a7b702273
324 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File

This PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that leverages the CVE-2014-0496 vulnerability (app.addToolButton/removeToolButton). The embedded JavaScript is obfuscated but the presence of PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD and PDF_UNESCAPE heuristics indicate it's designed to execute malicious code. The primary function appears to be downloading and executing a second-stage payload, as suggested by the ClamAV detection 'Pdf.Dropper.Agent-7216765-0'.

Heuristics 14

  • app.addToolButton/removeToolButton — CVE-2014-0496 critical CVE exact CVE_2014_0496
    PDF JavaScript combines app.addToolButton() and app.removeToolButton() with heap-spray shellcode markers — the public Adobe Reader/Acrobat ToolButton use-after-free exploit shape for CVE-2014-0496. (matched in decompressed stream)
  • Embedded PDF child has suspicious static findings critical PDF_EMBEDDED_CHILD_STATIC_TRIAGE
    PDF contains an embedded PDF stream whose extracted child matches suspicious or malicious PDF heuristics. Wrapper PDFs are commonly used to hide the actual exploit or lure payload from scanners that do not recursively inspect attachments.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Dropper.Agent-7216765-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Dropper.Agent-7216765-0
  • OpenAction trigger high PDF_OPENACTION
    PDF has an /OpenAction — code runs automatically when opened
  • unescape() call high PDF_UNESCAPE
    unescape() found — often used to decode shellcode in PDF JS exploits (matched inside decoded stream)
  • Embedded script payload in PDF stream medium PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an HTML/XFA <script> tag without accompanying Windows shell-execution primitives — common in accessible XFA forms but worth surfacing for analyst review.
  • Embedded file low PDF_EMBEDDED
    PDF embeds a file attachment — could carry an executable or another weaponised document as a nested payload
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Remote GoTo action info PDF_GOTO_REMOTE
    PDF has GoToR/GoToE actions that reference sibling document files — typical of multi-part document bundles
  • 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.
  • 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 http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/

Extracted artifacts 5

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0001_000.js
246aa4a49764505f00d48d6d1410f4de09a6b7bf13e5d24b48669eebd19402e5		 pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 1 at offset 0xA 5434 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 13 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
stream_001_off00001938.js
d1dfd457a2fdd3cec4091f689f39b85b35666aa5599ef3a8d5f9a80d1e2ce105		 decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x1938 1042 bytes
font_00_type1_off00001dd4.bin
c6bf78478c9c4dd5b3b86554d34c78f847f70af4118f9ff083c1fccf0e8e932b		 pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (type1) at offset 0x1DD4 97 bytes
font_01_type1_off0000205b.bin
b749644b3e758e7335900ab2e7499eaa64b3a946849f1f8a0948287bdd96763d		 pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (type1) at offset 0x205B 144 bytes
tool___r11---captcha--thomas-edison-thomasedison---nest--1-only-text-long-doc.pdf
5fa9aaae8eb39638b5d1eb090793e59617b6404d23531bf16b9ba5106d349c2d		 pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 244 at offset 0x1AAA0 8766 bytes

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