Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e429ecbaedfd7080…

MALICIOUS

PDF

40.4 KB
MD5: 9de74f12d070eff9d6687899724813ab SHA-1: c929539f504f4ba7d53a05a1be5ae3bdc68ad391 SHA-256: e429ecbaedfd70800a563fa911ba27032801c07a4ed30df166ddb227a087e533
160 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The PDF file contains an embedded TIFF image that exploits CVE-2010-0188 in Adobe Reader. This vulnerability allows for arbitrary code execution when the malicious PDF is opened. The ClamAV detection 'Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-90' further confirms its malicious nature. No scripts were extracted, and the document body was minimal, indicating the exploit is the primary malicious component.

Heuristics 7

  • 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.Dropped-90 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-90
  • ASCIIHexDecode filter (with exploit indicators) medium PDF_FILTER_HEX
    Hex-encoding filter present alongside exploit delivery indicators — often used to hide payload or shellcode bytes
  • 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
  • PDF differential parser failed info PDF_DIFFERENTIAL_PARSE_FAILED
    The cross-check parser (pdfminer.six) failed on this file: PDF differential parser failed: PSSyntaxError. Static heuristics still ran and any of their findings above are valid; only the differential cross-check signal is missing.
  • 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_obj0001.bin
267d31fe725fb5d5d45c5850d0ca92588fab83a852d22a8137df9fbc67116983
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 1 at offset 0x5B 13415 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 long base64-like blob(s).