The New AV Bypass Technique: Embedded Malicious Word in PDF File

Attackers can create files with a PDF signature by manipulating the file structure to bypass AVs. An MHT file created in Word and containing macros is embedded in a PDF file. Then, when this file is recognized as a PDF, the embedded Word file in the PDF is opened.

When we open the malware, the Word application opens as follows.

When we look at the header information of this file, we see a PDF signature.

And when we open the file with the hex editor, the first bytes start with the PDF signature and then continue with other objects. It looks like a normal PDF file until here.

But if we analyze a little more, we can view the MHT file in other objects of the file as follows:

The malicious VBA codes inside the MHT start communicating with the C2 server.

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IOCs

SHA2565b677d297fb862c2d223973697479ee53a91d03073b14556f421b3d74f136b9d
SHA256098796e1b82c199ad226bff056b6310262b132f6d06930d3c254c57bdf548187
SHA256ef59d7038cfd565fd65bae12588810d5361df938244ebad33b71882dcf683058
C2 Serverhttps[:]//web365metrics.com
C2 Serverhttps[:]//cloudmetricsapp.com

References

https://blogs.jpcert.or.jp/en/2023/08/maldocinpdf.html

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