Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 bad20217a878baef…

MALICIOUS

PDF

976.5 KB Created: 2005-11-14 13:57:44 +01:00 Authoring application: Adobe InDesign CS (3.0) (via Acrobat Distiller 6.0.0 for Macintosh) First seen: 2026-05-11
MD5: caf5e758fd3d1bf628081f605de3015d SHA-1: 997cd4e91d8cf1dfe65430cb4912a3040e9c9585 SHA-256: bad20217a878baef5a9749f403aada6757f81860b4df34e87db072b62bd91fd1
416 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.007 JavaScript T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF file contains a JavaScript action that uses the exportDataObject function to save an embedded file named 'test.pdf'. This embedded file is detected as a Windows executable. The PDF also contains a launch action that directly executes 'cmd.exe', indicating an attempt to exploit a vulnerability like CVE-2010-1240 to bypass security controls and execute arbitrary code. The combination of these elements strongly suggests a malicious dropper designed to execute a secondary payload.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9986

Heuristics 11

  • Adobe Reader Launch action command execution critical CVE exact CVE_2010_1240
    PDF uses the Adobe Reader/Acrobat Launch action pattern associated with CVE-2010-1240: cmd.exe is invoked with attacker-controlled parameters, paired with an embedded/exported payload.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • Launch action critical PDF_LAUNCH
    PDF contains a /Launch action whose target is an executable, URL, or UNC path — can start an external application
  • /Launch action target: cmd.exe critical PDF_LAUNCH_COMMAND
    PDF /Launch action specifies an executable target with parameters '/Q /C %HOMEDRIVE%&cd %HOMEPATH%&(if exist "Desktop\\test.pdf" (cd "Desktop"' — references a known-dangerous executable (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).
  • Embedded attachment masquerades: declared document, content is windows-executable critical PDF_EMBEDDED_FILESPEC_CONTENT_MISMATCH
    An /EmbeddedFile attachment's declared filename extension or /Subtype MIME type contradicts the magic bytes of its decompressed content. The attachment is declared as a benign document or image but the bytes are an executable or executable-bearing archive. This is a deliberate deception used to hide droppers in PDF attachments and is a generic indicator of embed-and-drop weaponisation, independent of any specific CVE.
  • /Launch action paired with attachment-dropping JS API high PDF_LAUNCH_PLUS_DROPPER_JS
    PDF combines a /Launch action with a JavaScript API call that writes or opens an attached/external resource — the canonical shape of the CVE-2010-1240 /Launch + exportDataObject family. Benign PDFs do not pair these surfaces; the combination indicates a drop-and-execute chain regardless of the specific JS API knobs or /Launch target.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium 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.
  • JavaScript action low 1 related finding 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
  • 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.color.org In extracted file (Press_Qualitykompimiert.joboptions)
    • http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/iX/1.0/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/In PDF document text
    • http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/In PDF document text
    • http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/In PDF document text
    • http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/In extracted file (test.pdf)

Related samples 8

Ranked by shared artifacts, heuristics, extracted URLs, CVEs, and signatures.

Full JSON: related samples API

Extracted artifacts 20

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
Press_Qualitykompimiert.joboptions pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 639 at offset 0xB1BDB 14609 bytes
SHA-256: 7604f0f6c5b2e9d35261f64f552d8e54deaa98668a9b10d77f00a347239c1351
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 11 long base64-like blob(s).
test.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 687 at offset 0xB6F0C 454656 bytes
SHA-256: cfa4f56807405fd36e406688feb970a0d0d4854456ba2da72e4a33a27b01d9ae
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=test.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file
javascript_obj0688_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 688 at offset 0xF3C7F 53 bytes
SHA-256: b1a09f919e0f5d1c1d284849c9af93bae6fd1411634dfdc491e126f9cd327f3f
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "test", nLaunch: 0 });
font_00_cff_off0000375a.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x375A 12987 bytes
SHA-256: 11198bfc21d578724d9c8776a6a015a28512881413f617ff1ed8e8357e8d4e31
font_01_cff_off00006251.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x6251 12542 bytes
SHA-256: 5c54343d07d8c6c961f110927be21ddb8f4897ed7008fe6688fd22f0ae3aa464
font_02_sfnt_off000089ea.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x89EA 46080 bytes
SHA-256: 1c1ccf5d91fe79125140a151cd5272b770b58571f16df4f1351970f82e6dc033
font_03_cff_off0007ff7e.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x7FF7E 16132 bytes
SHA-256: cb1061f6d5722228b0aa1a4b89f26f758c3cce761a55f7d34f2ad36e169acd50
font_04_cff_off000832bb.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x832BB 35082 bytes
SHA-256: 498c5720e547abdbcf51cedb79c0a8d16ca98f798fcbc24c88a23cce96cc1a2c
font_05_cff_off00089166.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x89166 8164 bytes
SHA-256: a8af456d29f9d961c7bd7174173a4b79691c4e7d69ab0379feffcb2a421e00c1
font_06_cff_off0008af31.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x8AF31 16018 bytes
SHA-256: 57a913ecdd50e6b51aa5cf3cbd08a63a89a8218f4ca119df15a500cc4792c141
font_07_cff_off0008e276.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x8E276 17426 bytes
SHA-256: b4ffb4f2cd59db9e09ed70b6cf16f4313deb78ecb4105f3b2a6ba707be40cee9
font_08_cff_off00091917.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x91917 29746 bytes
SHA-256: 072f73d4a0489420019733c7166cd5935fe070aaee7f7006e365acf1171dc43b
font_09_cff_off00097dcb.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x97DCB 43205 bytes
SHA-256: 393a1f6782bd6afb2e009bf73f4865919c0d1c6bbb55349f34c1cba1e3c53a70
font_10_cff_off000987ab.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x987AB 5290 bytes
SHA-256: f80da31edfecf774ebe0a1c776df669e1c3bcdaecaba2c1ba0dca6128ac15ea0
font_11_cff_off00099d29.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x99D29 5180 bytes
SHA-256: 4a3dd367006db2dd156da3573fd22e3c4ebbdbfede8eb638d23b34e75edd761c
font_12_cff_off0009b117.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x9B117 3741 bytes
SHA-256: 165ad6d4f8de14b48ffc205b90c401b9ed60a1d9117fa8a749f02806d3539940
font_13_sfnt_off0009bec9.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x9BEC9 71856 bytes
SHA-256: 08333c4d7d12362b37c7013655813be84d4ed494427685df73eef6db034ae48c
font_14_sfnt_off000a8c3a.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xA8C3A 13020 bytes
SHA-256: 49eebd409440beca2418e0aa6e9d532ba6b2145e043986e4d8dc8f97777445b2
font_15_sfnt_off000aa8dd.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xAA8DD 14132 bytes
SHA-256: 192056ee0429d1ba90cb1be47e4a868923f0e67dc8d0b9e5222f540489464285
font_16_sfnt_off000ac7dc.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0xAC7DC 25096 bytes
SHA-256: 9bcd2e67d99e7be7dd173f2a1da70eed9c8dde79a75c9d20eef12d38d47f0b21

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