Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e4a00fcb5bd319c9…

MALICIOUS

PDF

8.2 KB
MD5: d263c1c9dcfa2f49e9c9322dfe0b4ace SHA-1: 5c90267d3aa853a940d47803a21f0614f9f88ae0 SHA-256: e4a00fcb5bd319c9a69d0dd082d4cc95ddd5362dcd35b49d2d677e505b7fcf99
194 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF contains embedded JavaScript and triggers an OpenAction, indicating a malicious intent. Specifically, the 'CVE_2014_0496' heuristic firing points to the exploitation of app.addToolButton/removeToolButton. This suggests the script is designed to download and execute a secondary payload, likely leveraging the identified CVE. The document body's content about weight loss on Mars appears to be a lure.

Heuristics 9

  • app.addToolButton/removeToolButton — CVE-2014-0496 critical CVE exact CVE_2014_0496
    PDF JavaScript combines app.addToolButton() and app.removeToolButton() with heap-spray shellcode markers — the public Adobe Reader/Acrobat ToolButton use-after-free exploit shape for CVE-2014-0496. (matched in decompressed stream)
  • OpenAction trigger high PDF_OPENACTION
    PDF has an /OpenAction — code runs automatically when opened
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 4

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0001_000.js
e2599edd0028f2f49afbf4ae4e6befa6eb434d2f6c39fefef812c3aaae488dfd
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 1 at offset 0xA 4836 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 13 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
stream_001_off0000178e.js
d1dfd457a2fdd3cec4091f689f39b85b35666aa5599ef3a8d5f9a80d1e2ce105
decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x178E 1042 bytes
font_00_type1_off00001c2c.bin
c6bf78478c9c4dd5b3b86554d34c78f847f70af4118f9ff083c1fccf0e8e932b
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (type1) at offset 0x1C2C 97 bytes
font_01_type1_off00001eb3.bin
b749644b3e758e7335900ab2e7499eaa64b3a946849f1f8a0948287bdd96763d
pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (type1) at offset 0x1EB3 144 bytes