Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c05fae14ba083e23…

MALICIOUS

PDF

2.3 KB
MD5: e7c68362d8a48944ae01d9877d92a5a9 SHA-1: 5329887eac093031cd7fa0c48fd285ea8e939f9f SHA-256: c05fae14ba083e23a07540059772bcd1630a5f8c04cb3deca0ea7f397f5f2ff3
228 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that utilizes eval() and unescape() functions, indicating obfuscation. Critical heuristics identify the CVE-2009-4324 exploit targeting the media.newPlayer object, which is used to launch the JavaScript. The JavaScript is further obfuscated and likely responsible for downloading and executing a secondary payload, as suggested by the ClamAV detection and the presence of deobfuscated JavaScript files. The attack pattern is consistent with a malicious PDF dropper.

Heuristics 8

  • media.newPlayer — CVE-2009-4324 critical CVE exact CVE_2009_4324
    PDF JavaScript calls media.newPlayer — CVE-2009-4324 is a use-after-free in Adobe Reader's multimedia plugin triggered by media.newPlayer(). Actively exploited as a zero-day in December 2009. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36082 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36082
  • 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.
  • 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 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj111611_000.js
772da696bdb365f3f1eb4ea6af881baad391be62f3591b19f2f9827fcc4c9b53
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 111611 at offset 0x846 479 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
87119b1424c63eea8c661375fd08552662e801f5e28e2014f4156e2d8c9ec1b7
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x189 2475 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).