Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 f2e75caf1d4e9d63…

MALICIOUS

PDF

12.8 KB
MD5: d60cca7029c5f4b175b0da8992dc9a0a SHA-1: 4b8272e91b8a44b82daa6115b7a75784af355b7f SHA-256: f2e75caf1d4e9d63fc0a89ef2562e349bbf0f9b2afc3e91f4a747a3185b4a9c2
272 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204 Malicious Link T1059.001 PowerShell

The PDF file contains embedded JavaScript and triggers a critical heuristic for CVE-2010-0188, an Adobe Reader exploit targeting XFA forms. The embedded script, although obfuscated, is likely responsible for executing the exploit payload. ClamAV detections further confirm its malicious nature. The embedded URL is likely benign, related to XFA schema definitions.

Heuristics 10

  • Adobe Reader LibTIFF XFA image exploit — CVE-2010-0188 critical CVE likely CVE_2010_0188
    PDF contains the CVE-2010-0188 exploit template: XFA JavaScript heap-spray setup, a generated TIFF image payload, and assignment of that TIFF data to an XFA image field rawValue to trigger Adobe Reader's LibTIFF parser.
  • XFA form contains executable script high CVE related PDF_XFA_SCRIPT
    PDF embeds an XFA form whose dataset contains a <script> or <xfa:script> block — XFA scripting has been the exploit primitive for several Adobe Reader RCEs (CVE-2010-0188 family, CVE-2018-4901, and others). Plain XFA without scripts is far less risky.
  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-6136306-0
  • ClamAV detection on extracted artifact critical EXTRACTED_FILE_CLAMAV
    ClamAV flagged at least one file extracted from inside this sample. Even when the wrapping document carries no AV detection of its own, a hit on the carved artifact is a strong indicator the sample is a delivery vehicle.
  • 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
  • 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.xfa.org/schema/xfa-template/2.5/

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
embedded_pdf_script_000003ce.bin
08f019cd67668a3985d075e0d674aae57a93ea800ee439b4da673952103bd070
pdf-embedded-script PDF raw stream script payload at offset 0x3CE 12145 bytes
Detection
ClamAV: Js.Exploit.HTML-28
Obfuscation or payload: unlikely