Explainable AI model for PDFMal detection based on gradient boosting model

Abstract Portable document formats (PDFs) are widely used for document exchange due to their widespread usage and versatility. However, PDFs are highly vulnerable to malware attacks, which pose significant security risks. Existing defense mechanisms often struggle to effectively detect and mitigate these threats, highlighting the need for more robust solutions. This paper introduces a robust framework that uses advanced tree-based ensemble models to detect malicious PDFs using the Evasive-PDFMal2022 dataset. The proposed model achieves a recall rate of 100%, an accuracy rate of 99.95%, and a fast inference time of 0.1723 s. Furthermore, the framework exhibits minimal false positive and false negative rates, ensuring a high level of precision in distinguishing between malicious and benign PDFs. Shapley additive explanations are used to improve the interpretability and reliability of the model’s predictions. The results highlight the effectiveness of the proposed model in improving PDF document security and addressing the challenges posed by malware attacks.