Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 f2d0e4b4188bc38a…

MALICIOUS

PDF

404.3 KB Authoring application: cairo 1.7.4 (http://cairographics.org First seen: 2026-05-10
MD5: 6cba773300163be58ba661e8b0a3d33e SHA-1: b9f0bc0d6f29542e1ff92c40e1aef8d7dc15901d SHA-256: f2d0e4b4188bc38a3cc6600e7dfb3b3c6ec70f302de5969b6add6b584d949b75
516 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File T1059.003 Windows Command Shell T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and a launch action that executes cmd.exe. This action is designed to exploit CVE-2010-1240, allowing the execution of an embedded Windows executable payload. The embedded executable is masqueraded as 'zeus.pdf' but is detected as a malicious PE file. The script likely downloads and executes a second-stage payload.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9945

Heuristics 13

  • 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\\zeus.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.
  • /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.
  • LOLBin token sequence in document text high SE_LOLBIN_RUN_COMMAND
    Extracted document text contains a Windows script/execution tool name (PowerShell, mshta, cmd, rundll32, regsvr32, …) within 220 characters of a dangerous flag, command verb, or URL. This is a visible 'run this' instruction in HTML/PDF/RTF lure bodies, or — in macro-laden Office files — the macro's own string-pool entries appearing adjacent in extracted text.
  • Suspicious extracted artifact medium 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.
  • 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://cairographics.org In PDF document text
    • http://foro.portalhacker.net/index.php/topic,109444In PDF document text
    • http://freakshare.net/files/l51bapmo/zeus1.3.2.1panel-1.3.1.1build.rarIn PDF document text
    • http://freakshare.net/files/m60k0vsm/xampp-win32-1.7.3.exeIn PDF document text
    • http://localhostIn PDF document text
    • http://dominio-ip.org/zeus/builder/bot.exeIn PDF document text
    • http://dominio.no-ip.org/zeus/builder/cfg.binIn PDF document text
    • http://dominio.no-ip.biz/zeus4/web/ip.phpIn PDF document text
    • http://dominio.no-ip.org/zeus/web/gate.php.phpIn PDF document text
    • http://dominio.no-ip.orgIn PDF document text
    • http://dominio.no-ip.org/zeus/cfg1.binIn PDF document text
    • https://www.gruposantander.es/In PDF document text
    • http://vkontakte.ru/In PDF document text
    • http://mail.rambler.ru/In PDF document text
    • http://www.google.comIn PDF document text
    • http://www.yahoo.comIn PDF document text

Related samples 8

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

Full JSON: related samples API

Extracted artifacts 6

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
zeus.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 368 at offset 0x57815 64000 bytes
SHA-256: 3aae2e19872718d0479c343217ae7abfca52c0a510e24d9ae7eaa892fb111268
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=zeus.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file
javascript_obj0369_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 369 at offset 0x64C75 53 bytes
SHA-256: 7c316aa682776aac578b7b0e99333118e1141bfbc8e279449ece6ee015d3002a
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "zeus", nLaunch: 0 });
stream_082_off0002b18f.bin decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x2B18F 97566 bytes
SHA-256: a7d72eb965eb9574262338ebb1ecc94e9aab7663f57c8498a91cdf0f6e7c5d1c
Detection
ClamAV: No threats found
Obfuscation or payload: likely
Carved artifact entropy is 7.76, consistent with packed or encrypted content.
font_00_sfnt_off0004d7eb.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x4D7EB 16240 bytes
SHA-256: 7f19bc1853d9c8acccd9a30f61094dbc1fc66bc872615a32eaef60df8fed0954
font_01_sfnt_off00050f44.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x50F44 12284 bytes
SHA-256: ff2ec4872c0d42cdc1db359eb34db919be23303362278401f307e50ea9f4cff5
font_02_sfnt_off0005387b.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x5387B 9392 bytes
SHA-256: 99fab0b04b723b96179d7ddbd58e90fc51b76a4b66c2109e0c79c447af0fa023

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