Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 c4c6a1ae39c11035…

MALICIOUS

PDF

7.9 KB
MD5: 18283d9fe1accceec7099e9b41960cb7 SHA-1: 531f27cfefa27d163bac270ba8c466440d301a21 SHA-256: c4c6a1ae39c110350a2c6c60b4ead90c5dbd0ef9b434ae26068dbef33170911d
134 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF file contains heavily obfuscated JavaScript, identified as a multi-stage dropper. The primary heuristic indicates it decodes a hex-dashed payload and uses incremental evaluation to build and execute code. This suggests the script's purpose is to download and execute a second-stage payload from a remote source. The ClamAV detection further confirms its malicious nature.

Heuristics 7

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35902 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35902
  • Obfuscated multi-stage PDF JavaScript dropper high PDF_JS_OBFUSCATED_DROPPER
    PDF JavaScript shows 5 independent signals of exploit-kit-style multi-stage obfuscation: annot_subject_stage, hex_codec_loop, hex_dashed_payload, incremental_eval_build, repeated_pluginschk. This is strongly consistent with pre-2011 Adobe Reader PDF droppers — OpenAction JS reads encoded data from annotation subjects, decodes it through one or more hex / base-N loops, and invokes eval indirectly (method name built one character at a time). The actual CVE is hidden in the final decoded layer and is not visible via static analysis.
  • 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)
  • syncAnnotScan annotation-staging primitive low PDF_FOXIT_SYNCANNOTSCAN
    PDF JavaScript calls syncAnnotScan() — a no-op annotation-enumeration primitive used by exploit-kit JavaScript to stage payload reads from annotation /Subject fields before eval(). Not a vulnerable sink itself; rarely seen in legitimate PDFs. (matched in decompressed 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 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0005_000.js
3cf6a22459cda11e607fc9e0dc0c88d01a8425e26488ff87df38d855ceb4dccf
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 5 at offset 0x148 465 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_000.js
8bb61834f5a0d9dea3e6fe81494c9db18bc3253653b33c3d952eca4f977299c6
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x1AA1 1694 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
deobfuscated.js
3eafa2198ac7cb9ca19d41fff9ae5baab032342f4f5fdba32e2b49b46574589a
deobfuscated-js PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass 21134 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 5 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).