Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e44e52962aaf04a1…

MALICIOUS

PDF

104.6 KB
MD5: 1d53053a9e61fd374a2c8edf814dc6ec SHA-1: 7e2d83bb3b7808eceaa9dbf51c9d0b89ddf551ef SHA-256: e44e52962aaf04a17b131c5532ff7edaf45d31bd2a72221a41da476860b15322
228 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

The PDF contains embedded content and utilizes XFA forms with risky executable scripts, as indicated by multiple high and critical heuristic firings. The ML classifier strongly flagged this PDF as malicious, and ClamAV detected it as Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78. The presence of an embedded file suggests it is likely a dropper for a secondary payload.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

Heuristics 8

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Dropped-78
  • unescape() call high PDF_UNESCAPE
    unescape() found — often used to decode shellcode in PDF JS exploits (matched inside decoded stream)
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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_obj0008.bin
fd49a507be70159b847a7df82506d7a2a988837d206369874b2ae8b080d32472
pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 8 at offset 0xE2 15191 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 1 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).