Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 defa1c1186a2ebcd…

MALICIOUS

PDF

9.7 KB
MD5: db61090d77f866120c88f0f9416b6960 SHA-1: d3c573922962d5565355511f831aa010310993d4 SHA-256: defa1c1186a2ebcdd42146190adcf6c6dcb47f6777db2202bc50e0e404708266
356 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

This PDF file contains multiple high and critical heuristic firings related to JavaScript execution and exploitation, including CVE-2007-5659. The presence of eval() and unescape() calls within embedded JavaScript streams, particularly those staged via annotation subjects, strongly indicates malicious intent. The ML classifier and ClamAV detection further corroborate this assessment. The primary attack vector appears to be leveraging a known PDF vulnerability to run obfuscated JavaScript, likely to download and execute a secondary payload.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 10

  • Collab.collectEmailInfo — CVE-2007-5659 critical CVE exact CVE_2007_5659
    PDF JavaScript calls Collab.collectEmailInfo — CVE-2007-5659 is a buffer overflow in Adobe Reader triggered by a long argument or heap-sprayed message field passed to Collab.collectEmailInfo(). Part of a series of Acrobat JS API exploits. (identified after JavaScript deobfuscation)
  • Annotation subject percent-decoding eval stager critical PDF_ANNOT_SUBJECT_MARKER_EVAL_STAGER
    OpenAction JavaScript forces annotation enumeration, reads an annotation /Subject payload with getAnnots(), rewrites marker bytes into percent escapes, decodes it with unescape(), and dispatches it through eval. This is a high-confidence exploit-kit staging pattern. It is intentionally not mapped to CVE-2009-1492 unless getAnnots() itself carries the crafted integer or long argument shape for that vulnerability.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35912 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-35912
  • 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)
  • Annotation subject callee-key hex JavaScript stager high PDF_ANNOT_SUBJECT_CALLEE_HEX_STAGER
    PDF JavaScript uses syncAnnotScan()/getAnnots() to read an indirect annotation /Subject stream, percent-decodes it through marker replacement, then uses a callee.toString()-derived key to decode and eval the final exploit stage.
  • 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.
  • 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 4

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0007_000.js
7218a1c68060953321573daa035b16f5f32928ce25a9eb656690dbe78cd9464e
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 7 at offset 0x19B 201 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
annotation_subject_callee_hex_stage_000.js
e540356111304fda073810b426a138b760a9d1eeb1c81d892896b1c8361c8c59
deobfuscated-js annotation-subject callee-key decoded JavaScript at offset 0x14A 5278 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 5 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
legacy_pdfkit_stage_001.js
c7b77cd126a85e999f0d477640f5cc0897197eddf1f21e51243a23412d3acf3d
deobfuscated-js repeated-marker hex decoded JavaScript at offset 0x2B5 12511 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 2 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).
deobfuscated.js
9b33e2a8503b9d91c3bad67ec8f179dccc232f07846f379a1d7941f0233a1d6a
deobfuscated-js PDF JavaScript deobfuscation pass 46010 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 4 eval/decoder/string-building token(s). Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).