Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 e4fa730d00839aaa…

MALICIOUS

PDF

70.9 KB First seen: 2013-08-26
MD5: 369614d7c422201f2d1605f4befd452d SHA-1: f963c4f78cf00f6440774b1b6fe992ab03020151 SHA-256: e4fa730d00839aaaf4ae00fef4ab0854beccabfeb2541662a5391be85c48375c
576 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.001 PowerShell T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information T1071.001 Web Protocols

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that triggers a launch action, executing cmd.exe. This command is used to launch an embedded Windows executable disguised as 'W2.pdf'. The embedded executable was detected by ClamAV as 'Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0', and the PDF itself was flagged as 'Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586'. The combination of PDF launch actions, embedded executables, and JavaScript indicates a dropper or downloader functionality.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9995

Heuristics 12

  • Adobe Reader Launch action command execution critical CVE exact CVE_2010_1240
    PDF uses the Adobe Reader/Acrobat Launch action pattern associated with CVE-2010-1240: cmd.exe is invoked with attacker-controlled parameters, paired with an embedded/exported payload.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Tool.Agent-1388586
  • Launch action critical PDF_LAUNCH
    PDF contains a /Launch action whose target is an executable, URL, or UNC path — can start an external application
  • Embedded Windows executable payload in PDF stream critical PDF_EMBEDDED_PE_PAYLOAD
    PDF stream bytes contain an embedded Windows executable with a verified PE header. Exploit chains often hide droppers inside ordinary streams rather than standard /EmbeddedFile attachments.
  • /Launch action target: cmd.exe critical PDF_LAUNCH_COMMAND
    PDF /Launch action specifies an executable target with parameters '/Q /C %HOMEDRIVE%&cd %HOMEPATH%&(if exist "Desktop\\W2.pdf" (cd "Desktop"' — references a known-dangerous executable (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).
  • Embedded attachment masquerades: declared document, content is windows-executable critical PDF_EMBEDDED_FILESPEC_CONTENT_MISMATCH
    An /EmbeddedFile attachment's declared filename extension or /Subtype MIME type contradicts the magic bytes of its decompressed content. The attachment is declared as a benign document or image but the bytes are an executable or executable-bearing archive. This is a deliberate deception used to hide droppers in PDF attachments and is a generic indicator of embed-and-drop weaponisation, independent of any specific CVE.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact critical 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.
  • /Launch action paired with attachment-dropping JS API high PDF_LAUNCH_PLUS_DROPPER_JS
    PDF combines a /Launch action with a JavaScript API call that writes or opens an attached/external resource — the canonical shape of the CVE-2010-1240 /Launch + exportDataObject family. Benign PDFs do not pair these surfaces; the combination indicates a drop-and-execute chain regardless of the specific JS API knobs or /Launch target.
  • JavaScript action low 1 related finding 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
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL http://www.zeustech.net/ Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://]hostname[:port]/pathIn extracted file (W2.pdf)
    • tcp://199.73.28.114:4444In extracted file (W2.pdf)
    • http://www.apache.org/Referenced by PDF JavaScript
    • http://www.iec.chIn extracted file (icc_00_off00000d9c.icc)

Related samples 8

Ranked by shared artifacts, heuristics, extracted URLs, CVEs, and signatures.

Full JSON: related samples API

Extracted artifacts 10

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
W2.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 52 at offset 0x6AE4 73802 bytes
SHA-256: 43bc71586e3edc838ab9616695814257b6d3ca217a1e09418b24274627674a6a
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-5710536-0
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=W2.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file Static shellcode analysis recovered the Metasploit stager connect-back address: 199.73.28.114:4444 (reverse/x86, public) Static shellcode analysis found candidate code region(s). Indicators: SC_PEB_ACCESS, SC_MSF_BIND, SC_PUSH_STRING Static shellcode analysis recovered API/import strings: kernel32.dll, advapi32.dll, KERNEL32.DLL, ADVAPI32.DLL, LoadLibraryA, GetProcAddress
javascript_obj0053_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 53 at offset 0x117D6 51 bytes
SHA-256: b2f245b16973a3e6b89b339cfba6591066c68ae3cad7f43d603b84c1dbc45d84
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "W2", nLaunch: 0 });
icc_00_off00000d9c.icc pdf-icc-profile PDF ICC profile at offset 0xD9C 3144 bytes
SHA-256: 2b3aa1645779a9e634744faf9b01e9102b0c9b88fd6deced7934df86b949af7e
font_00_cff_off00001a93.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x1A93 494 bytes
SHA-256: 94e7d9a21d2856078469bbdf85d5f74a33d085820ada3a6a9cce172adba60cea
font_01_cff_off00001ee1.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x1EE1 672 bytes
SHA-256: aadb2ce55ba708d4f839649ef88be7ee0861a852f9d4c7d8ea83b5024af74f43
font_02_cff_off00002467.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x2467 2599 bytes
SHA-256: 0e823901bb3ed70439b5b5dfc5531cb590dabdeb85bfaf72fd4973212882b0f6
font_03_cff_off00003015.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x3015 854 bytes
SHA-256: 8bbb166c7e90eac11d7d9bc6661d4478a7903505bb1067083609b1ddc6f0d234
font_04_cff_off00003766.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x3766 5819 bytes
SHA-256: 14664b6d86b8afaf99e72f2b11a29e43c14fde525066b0290ffac2ced030fdab
font_05_cff_off00004e17.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x4E17 5178 bytes
SHA-256: 4132e5c2eb329cc31b9f30de65a44f405e47795b4f92737b9e31231460a355e7
font_06_cff_off000061ae.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (cff) at offset 0x61AE 542 bytes
SHA-256: 0e840f4d0f2c9f613bf65b1c44ad193b6b86507748d7f01b450de94587b041a8

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