High Severity
Attachment: Callback Phishing solicitation via pdf file
Description
A fraudulent invoice/receipt found in a pdf attachment. Callback Phishing is an attempt by an attacker to solicit the victim (recipient) to call a phone number. The resulting interaction could lead to a multitude of attacks ranging from Financial theft, Remote Access Trojan (RAT) Installation or Ransomware Deployment.
References
No references.
Sublime Security
Created Aug 17th, 2023 • Last updated Feb 26th, 2025
Feed Source
Sublime Core Feed
Source
type.inbound
and (
not profile.by_sender().solicited
or (
profile.by_sender().any_messages_malicious_or_spam
and not profile.by_sender().any_false_positives
)
)
// single attachment
and length(attachments) == 1
// sender is freemail
and sender.email.domain.root_domain in $free_email_providers
// the attachment is a pdf with less than 3 pages, and at least 60 ocr chars
and any(attachments,
(
.file_extension == "pdf"
// get the length of the attached pdf
and any(file.explode(.), .depth == 0 and .scan.exiftool.page_count < 3)
// check that any _single_ result in the file.explode matches these conditions
// a second file.explode is required because the OCR is generated at a different depth within
// the file.explode results
and (
any(file.explode(.),
length(.scan.ocr.raw) > 60
// 4 of the following strings are found
and 4 of (
// this section is synced with attachment_callback_phish_with_pdf.yml and body_callback_phishing_no_attachment.yml
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "purchase"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "payment"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "transaction"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "subscription"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "antivirus"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "order"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "support"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "help line"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "receipt"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "invoice"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "call"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "helpdesk"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "cancel"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "renew"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "refund"),
regex.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "(?:reach|contact) us at"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "+1"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "amount"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "charged"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "crypto"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "wallet address"),
regex.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, '\$\d{3}\.\d{2}\b'),
regex.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw,
'(\+[ilo0-9]|1.(\()?[ilo0-9]{3}(\))?\D[ilo0-9]{3}\D[ilo0-9]{4})',
'\+?([ilo0-9]{1,2})?\s?\(?\d{3}\)?[\s\.\-⋅]{0,5}[ilo0-9]{3}[\s\.\-⋅]{0,5}[ilo0-9]{4}'
),
)
and (
// this section is synced with attachment_callback_phish_with_img.yml and body_callback_phishing_no_attachment.yml
regex.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw,
'(p.{0,3}a.{0,3}y.{0,3}p.{0,3}a.{0,3}l|ma?c.?fee|n[o0]rt[o0]n|geek.{0,5}squad|ebay|symantec|best buy|lifel[o0]c|secure anywhere|starz|utilities premium|pc security|at&t)'
)
// suspicious attachment name from the attachment object not file.explode() output
or regex.icontains(..file_name, 'INV(?:_|\s)?\d+(.pdf)$')
)
// Negate bank statements
and not (
2 of (
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "opening balance"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "closing balance"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "direct debit"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "interest"),
strings.icontains(.scan.ocr.raw, "account balance"),
)
)
)
// this section is synced with attachment_callback_phish_with_img.yml and body_callback_phishing_no_attachment.yml
or any(ml.logo_detect(.).brands,
.name in (
"PayPal",
"Norton",
"GeekSquad",
"Ebay",
"McAfee",
"AT&T"
)
)
)
)
)
and (
(
(
length(headers.references) > 0
or not any(headers.hops,
any(.fields, strings.ilike(.name, "In-Reply-To"))
)
)
and not (
(
strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "RE:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "RES:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "R:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "ODG:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "答复:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "AW:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "TR:")
or strings.istarts_with(subject.subject, "FWD:")
or regex.imatch(subject.subject,
'(\[[^\]]+\]\s?){0,3}(re|fwd?|automat.*)\s?:.*'
)
)
)
)
or (length(headers.references) == 0 or length(body.current_thread.text) < 10)
)
Playground
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