Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 ebcd5b8c9f3c84e5…

MALICIOUS

PDF

3.5 KB Created: 2008-31-20 53:85:00 Authoring application: Scribus 1.3.3.12 (via Scribus PDF Library 1.3.3.12)
MD5: dbeaf98f6c63dfff8a4a1982533468ab SHA-1: c46aaabae0065487ac3fc905493018603149ad32 SHA-256: ebcd5b8c9f3c84e51879cc4aa4394aca55f667bc7d6e03fa56bde3b1aeeaa325
166 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File T1566.002 Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript that is triggered by the OpenAction feature. Heuristics indicate the use of eval() and String.fromCharCode, along with a critical finding for CVE-2007-5659 (Collab.collectEmailInfo). This suggests the script is designed to deobfuscate and execute malicious code, likely to download and run a second-stage payload. The deobfuscated JavaScript stream, numeric_charcode_stage_000.js, is evidence of this.

Heuristics 7

  • 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)
  • OpenAction trigger high PDF_OPENACTION
    PDF has an /OpenAction — code runs automatically when opened
  • eval() call high PDF_EVAL
    eval() found — commonly used for obfuscated exploit execution (matched inside decoded stream)
  • 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.
  • String.fromCharCode low PDF_FROMCHARCODE
    String.fromCharCode found — used to construct payload strings dynamically. Common in benign JavaScript libraries for codepoint manipulation, so this alone is informational; weaponised use is also caught by the dedicated fromCharCode-stage and exploit-shape rules. (matched inside decoded 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 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
javascript_obj0013_001.js
2fb3be89e4b80edfe2a549353d5ba9b895aad0468be9c468d5503da99251ba9f
pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 13 at offset 0x3D7 13505 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 3 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).
numeric_charcode_stage_000.js
7b3e3615a8c3e34fc209048164005552782b51217304aaf56edf39cb02b899ac
deobfuscated-js numeric char-code string decoded JavaScript at offset 0x445 4032 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact contains 5 eval/decoder/string-building token(s).