Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 fa014e5db5b0a5c3…

MALICIOUS

PDF

36.6 KB Created: 2018-06-11 09:09:41 -04:00 Authoring application: wkhtmltopdf 0.12.4 (via Qt 4.8.7) First seen: 2020-08-25
MD5: e54a80179ab46ea21a2c31d72b2cc6e7 SHA-1: beacd29e39ca99a972285c988295f0e5783cc95b SHA-256: fa014e5db5b0a5c32d03c832a45ec03face095995b0130a4a0c1fda3e1c8dfc0
130 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The PDF file contains embedded URLs and document body text that mimic a legitimate educational resource, specifically a 'test bank business law today 9th edition'. The primary malicious URL, http://uncpbisdegree.com/download3.php?q=test-bank-business-law-today-9th-edition.pdf, is directly linked to the lure. The ML classifier also flagged this PDF as malicious with a high confidence score, indicating a strong likelihood of malicious intent. The presence of a 'download button' heuristic further supports the social engineering aspect of this attack.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 0.9434

Heuristics 4

  • Fake 'free download' SEO-poisoning PDF critical PDF_SEO_FAKE_DOWNLOAD
    The ML classifier flagged this PDF AND it carries a visual download/call-to-action lure AND an off-domain server-side download-gateway link whose query string names a document payload. This three-signal conjunction is the fake-document / 'free PDF download' SEO-poisoning delivery pattern: the page is padded with benign decoy links to dilute classifier scores while funnelling the victim through the gateway to malware/scareware. Acting only on the conjunction keeps benign download-bearing PDFs from being misflagged.
  • PDF carries a PHP-gateway SEO-spam PDF link farm medium PDF_SEO_PHP_GATEWAY_LINK_FARM
    PDF contains four or more clickable links whose target is a `.php` gateway with a multi-word search-PHRASE document slug embedded after it (e.g. 'index.php?.../binary+options+trading+nz.pdf' or 'pdf.php/cialis-dosage-side-effects.pdf'). Legitimate PHP-served documents use a filename or numeric id, not a search-query phrase, so this is the generated SEO link-farm shape — pharma / binary-options / 'free download' spam that ranks for queries and routes users into payload/redirect chains. The PDF itself carries no exploit — the risk is the linked destinations.
  • Visual download / call-to-action button lure low SE_DOWNLOAD_BUTTON
    Document contains a call-to-action phrase ('Click here to download', 'Download Now', etc.) — low-signal unless other findings point to a malicious workflow
  • 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://uncpbisdegree.com/download3.php?q=test-bank-business-law-today-9th-edition.pdf In PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/download4.php?q=test-bank-business-law-today-9th-edition.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://testbankgo.info/review-test-bank/In PDF document text
    • http://testbankgo.info/login/In PDF document text
    • http://testbankgo.eu/In PDF document text
    • http://www.newstribune.com/In PDF document text
    • http://www.bibme.org/In PDF document text
    • http://www.texarkanagazette.com/In PDF document text
    • http://buros.org/tests-reviewed-mental-measurements-yearbook-seriesIn PDF document text
    • http://www.bilderberg.org/skulbone.htmIn PDF document text
    • https://www.mysecbank.com/bank-news.htmIn PDF document text
    • http://www.balfour.com/In PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/single-variable-calculus-stewart-6th-edition.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/student-guide-for-oracle-11g-sql-fundamentals-solution.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/white-hart-red-lion-the-england-of-shakespeares-histories.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/skull-underwater.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/skoda-felicia-service-and-repair-manual-book.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/the-answerbank.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/the-church-in-italy-in-the-fifteenth-century-the-birkbeck-lectures-1971.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/vw-golf-diesl-wiring-diagram.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://riverside-resort.net/1/worst-enemies-best-friends-beacon-street-girls-1-annie-bryant.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://uncpbisdegree.com/1/the-cookie-book-over-300-step-by-step-recipes-for-home-baking.pdfIn PDF document text
    • http://www.ascendercorp.com/In PDF document text
    • http://www.ascendercorp.com/typedesigners.htmlIn PDF document text
    • https://www.scribd.com/document/327948225/Statistics-Test-Bank-Solutions-ManualIn PDF document text
    • https://www.scribd.com/document/375816107/test-bank-for-financial-managerial-accounting-15th-edition-by-williams-jan-haka-sue-bettner-mark-carcellIn PDF document text
    • http://www.myway.com/In PDF document text
    • https://abcnews.go.com/businessIn PDF document text
    • https://www.washingtontimes.com/communities/In PDF document text
    • http://www.northsouth.edu/In PDF document text
    • https://www.informationweek.com/default.aspIn PDF document text
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_obscenity_lawIn PDF document text
    • http://www.philly.com/philly/archives/In PDF document text
    • http://www.asahi.com/ajw/In PDF document text
    • https://abcnews.go.com/technologyIn PDF document text
    • http://www.businessinsider.com/best-law-schools-us-2016-7In PDF document text
    • https://www.nytimes.com/searchIn PDF document text
    • http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/In PDF document text
    • https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/In PDF document text
    • http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/In PDF document text
    • https://www.affairscloud.com/october-current-affairs-mock-test-2017/In PDF document text
    • https://www.cnbc.com/politics/In PDF document text
    • https://www.bls.gov/ooh/In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839&CLCID=0409In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=246338&CLCID=0409In PDF document text
    • https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=868922In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=286759&CLCID=409In PDF document text
    • http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=617297In PDF document text
    • https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing/LiberationFontLicenseIn PDF document text

Extracted artifacts 2

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
font_00_sfnt_off0000506c.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x506C 10788 bytes
SHA-256: 2388e7534a26b624125b01be037a703e9c9622a0d01fad2952863cf08e1444ad
font_01_sfnt_off00007278.bin pdf-font-stream PDF embedded font (sfnt) at offset 0x7278 7508 bytes
SHA-256: 4622ab8ba6ee173181080565fcb8bf809130363693e2c8c0b7e4cb4d0285df3d