• Sublime Core Feed
High Severity

Attachment: PDF with a suspicious string and single URL

Description

Detects single-page PDF attachments containing suspicious language such as 'View Document' or 'View PDF' along with exactly one URL, commonly used in credential theft attacks.

References

No references.

Sublime Security
Created Mar 2nd, 2026 • Last updated Mar 2nd, 2026
Source
type.inbound
and any(attachments,
        .file_type == "pdf"
        // a single page pdf
        and beta.parse_exif(.).page_count == 1
        and any(filter(file.explode(.), .depth == 1),
                // the pdf contains specific suspicious wording
                // these are exact matches when split on new lines extracted from the text of the PDF from the scanPDF scanner
                any(.scan.strings.strings,
                    regex.icontains(.,
                                    // action!
                                    '^\s*(?:view documents?|view pdf|preview new docusign|Download Secure PDF|VIEW DOCUMENT HERE|ACCESS DOCUMENT|REVIEW NEW SECURE DOCUMENT|OPEN SECURE VIEWER|DOWNLOAD RFP DOCUMENT|View Dashboard here|ACCESS SECURE DOCUMENTS|VIEW PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS|ACCESS / VIEW PROPOSAL DOCUMENT|Review & Sign Document|Open PDF|Access Document\(s\)|REVIEW SHARED DOCUMENT|New Secured Document|ACCESS SECURE RFP PORTAL|Please Review and Sign|Review and Validate|SECURE DOCUMENT|Open Document|View Details|Q!_Compensation/Salary Amendments\.pptx|PREVIEW DOCUMENT HERE|Download Tax Details Below:|Review and Sign Document|Review Document|Open Encrypted|OPEN DOCUMENT HERE|Click to read message)\s*$',
                                    // "secure fax"
                                    'View Secure Fax',
                                    // more fake errors
                                    'It seems there was an issue opening the document. Please view it online.',
                                    // fake adobe update
                                    'Update Adobe Viewer',
                                    // fake sharepoint wording
                                    'Learn more about messages protected by Microsoft',
                                    // fake encryption crap
                                    'This document is protected by 256-bit encryption.',
                                    // sent you a document
                                    '.*sent you a \S+ to review(?:\s*(?:and|&)\s*sign)$',
                                    '^You received a \S+ to review and sign$',
                                    // docusign
                                    '\s*DocuSign Contract Under Review\s*'
                    )
                )
                // fake error messages
                or (
                  'Error' in~ .scan.strings.strings
                  and any(.scan.strings.strings,
                          regex.icontains(., '^\s*(?:View Video)\s*$')
                  )
                )
                // really terse PDF with link
                or (
                  length(.scan.strings.strings) == 1
                  and 'Some additional information here' in~ .scan.strings.strings
                )
        )
        and any(file.explode(.), .depth == 0 and length(.scan.url.urls) == 1)
)
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