Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 ca59f2cac52d0ebb…

MALICIOUS

PDF

3.0 KB Created: 2005-09-29 09:27:34 UTC Authoring application: Acrobat Distiller 8.1.0 (Windows)
MD5: a938ba46f00543c33ab2320f032303e3 SHA-1: 441fcb3738a74435a94b1828c0a7fb3ae418fbe8 SHA-256: ca59f2cac52d0ebb97e15b43399296075b80cba8cb4a44245d68844c59e07959
162 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and an embedded file, triggering heuristics for PDF JavaScript actions and embedded files. Crucially, it fires critical heuristics for CVE-2010-0188, indicating an exploit targeting Adobe Reader's LibTIFF component. This suggests the primary attack pattern is to leverage this vulnerability for arbitrary code execution. The embedded file 'embedded_file_obj0004.bin' is likely the second-stage payload.

Heuristics 8

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains XFA image data with an inline crafted TIFF payload and shellcode/delivery markers. This is the data-bound variant of the CVE-2010-0188 Adobe Reader LibTIFF/XFA exploit shape.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36015
  • 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.
  • Embedded file low PDF_EMBEDDED
    PDF embeds a file attachment — could carry an executable or another weaponised document as a nested payload
  • XFA form low PDF_XFA
    PDF uses XML Forms Architecture — can contain script logic
  • AcroForm button with action trigger low PDF_ACROFORM_BUTTON
    PDF contains a /Btn form field together with a SubmitForm/URI/Launch/JS trigger — this is the building block of fake 'Download' or 'Open' button overlays used in PDF phishing lures
  • 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 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_file_obj0004.bin
7ff35f5474f780f7422d6617edced6d891e8b4dc38ceb03f573e4ff60383eaa9
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 4 at offset 0x1D5 12826 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).