Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 fac28409672cd875…

MALICIOUS

PDF

33.3 KB Created: 2008-11-27 10:13:45 Authoring application: PScript5.dll Version 5.2.2 (via GPL Ghostscript 8.15) First seen: 2026-05-10
MD5: 1e39eaabf137c4dbb53e3fe887f69478 SHA-1: c44a5d2634f974a581c6be7a007d66a965e78759 SHA-256: fac28409672cd875d373e4162e2a8ea15683e76bd17c4cffdbe7e735615bc1f6
594 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1204.002 Malicious File Execution: User Execution: Malicious File T1059.003 Command and Scripting Interpreter: Windows Command Shell T1566.002 Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment

The PDF contains a critical PDF_LAUNCH heuristic firing indicating a launch action targeting cmd.exe, exploiting CVE_2010_1240. This action is designed to execute a second-stage payload, identified as a Windows executable (Win.Trojan.Swrort-9886728-0) embedded within the PDF. The PDF also exhibits characteristics of a phishing lure, with an image-only document and an action trigger, suggesting a user is tricked into opening the malicious PDF and triggering the exploit.

Machine Learning

  • Nyx PDF Classifier malicious score 1.0000

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\\hacktest.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.
  • QR-code image-only phishing carrier high PDF_QR_IMAGE_ONLY_LURE
    PDF contains a QR-like image but exposes no PDF URI action and little or no machine-readable text. This is the off-band QR phishing pattern: the destination is hidden in pixels so URL extraction and reputation checks cannot see it.
  • Image-only document with action trigger (screenshot lure) medium PDF_IMAGE_LURE
    PDF has 1 image(s), only 0 text block(s), carries a click-outward action, and is only 33 KB — typical shape of a phishing lure where a full-page screenshot hides a clickable button that launches or submits to an attacker URL.
  • 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

Related samples 8

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

Full JSON: related samples API

Extracted artifacts 3

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
hacktest.pdf pdf-embedded-file PDF EmbeddedFile object 24 at offset 0x7C35 11776 bytes
SHA-256: 682aefb2f52da46969ac338c0acb91cd7a4e0e975b7549349a975d3faec649e3
Detection
ClamAV: Win.Trojan.Swrort-9886728-0
Obfuscation or payload: likely
actual_type=PE; declared_or_context_type=PDF; filename=hacktest.pdf; kind=pdf-embedded-file Static shellcode analysis found candidate code region(s). Indicators: SC_PEB_ACCESS, SC_MSF_BIND, SC_PUSH_STRING
javascript_obj0025_000.js pdf-javascript-stream PDF /JS object 25 at offset 0x80DD 57 bytes
SHA-256: 67ddb84ce0a1af87e3e61d0da8c2a9ddf427d576c0f6208aa71e272dca87d262
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
this.exportDataObject({ cName: "hacktest", nLaunch: 0 });
stream_002_off000049a6.bin decompressed-pdf-stream PDF FlateDecoded stream at offset 0x49A6 25900 bytes
SHA-256: a88a872c28d831a3e607cc2f6fe087e765b9b74ceb697fa9b63fc35ea88b6012

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