Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c3a1fd5b9b8bf089…

MALICIOUS

PDF

99.0 KB
MD5: 2b14a9a065e684afbc1af6401760927f SHA-1: c6872476388be7f0415c1bb3d5aa10f698d29ec4 SHA-256: c3a1fd5b9b8bf089ceb4eb9a005e81f72c655dc6c0015f850ef2106e783d68d5
270 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204 Malicious Link T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF file contains XFA form elements with embedded JavaScript, triggering a critical heap spray exploit. This exploit is designed to execute arbitrary code, as indicated by the 'PDF_XFA_HEAP_SPRAY' and 'PDF_EMBEDDED_SCRIPT_PAYLOAD' heuristics. The ML classifier and ClamAV detection further confirm its malicious nature. The embedded script likely downloads and executes a second-stage payload.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 9

  • XFA form contains risky executable script high CVE related PDF_XFA_SCRIPT
    PDF embeds an XFA form whose script block contains exploit, submission/launch, or shell-execution primitives. Ordinary LiveCycle print/update scripts are left as generic XFA/JS signals unless stronger behavior is present.
  • XFA JavaScript heap-spray exploit code critical PDF_XFA_HEAP_SPRAY
    PDF contains XFA script content with heap-spray or shellcode-like JavaScript markers such as large encoded word sequences, util.pack, large arrays, or spray variable names. This is a weaponised Adobe Reader exploit pattern, not a normal interactive form.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0
  • eval() call high PDF_EVAL
    eval() found — commonly used for obfuscated exploit execution
  • 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.
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • 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.
  • 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://ns.adobe.com/xdp/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.5/
    • http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_pdf_script_0000029a.bin
e1cd167dd6dd8e2d94602dfcd1740ab8dee66a9b256dc13ce976b1c10b81891d
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x29A 100591 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 3 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).