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Memory Analysis With Volatility

Section Introduction

This section introduces Volatility for analyzing memory dumps and locating digital evidence.

What is Volatility?

Volatility is an open-source memory forensics tool designed for incident response and malware analysis. It is built in Python and supports Windows, macOS, and Linux memory dumps. Created by Aaron Walters, it stems from his research in memory forensics.

Key capabilities include:

  • Enumerating running processes.

  • Listing active and closed network sessions.

  • Viewing Internet Explorer browsing history.

  • Locating and extracting files from memory.

  • Reading open Notepad contents.

  • Recovering commands from Windows CMD.

  • Scanning memory with YARA rules.

  • Extracting screenshots and clipboard data.

  • Dumping hashed passwords.

  • Retrieving SSL keys and certificates.

Volatility Walkthrough

imageinfo

Explanation: Determines the suggested profile (OS, version, architecture) needed for analysis of the memory image.

volatility -f memdump.mem imageinfo

Example Output:

Suggested Profile(s) : Win7SP1x64, Win7SP0x64
KDBG : 0xf80002a120a0
Number of Processors : 2
Image date and time : 2023-03-10 12:41:23 UTC+0000

pslist

Explanation: Lists processes that were running in the memory image, showing IDs, parent IDs, threads, handles, and timestamps.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 pslist

Example Output:

Offset(V)  Name          PID   PPID  Thds  Hnds  Time
0x827c5d48 System         4      0    72   490  2023-03-10 12:38:12 UTC+0000
0x824e8da0 smss.exe     228      4     2    29  2023-03-10 12:38:13 UTC+0000

pstree

Explanation: Displays processes in a hierarchical tree view, making it easier to see parent-child relationships.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 pstree

Example Output:

System(4)
  smss.exe(228)
    csrss.exe(340)
    wininit.exe(368)
      services.exe(456)
        svchost.exe(600)

psscan

Explanation: Scans memory for process objects, including hidden or terminated processes often used by malware. Compare with pslist to spot discrepancies.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 psscan

Example Output:

Offset(P)   Name         PID  PPID   Time
0x2f3c5d40  malware.exe 1420  368  2023-03-10 12:39:45 UTC+0000

psxview

Explanation: Cross-checks process listings across multiple techniques, showing whether each process appears in expected places. Differences can reveal hidden processes.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 psxview

Example Output:

Offset(P)   Name        PID   pslist psscan thrdproc pspcid csrss session desk
0x2f3c5d40  malware.exe 1420  False  True   True     True   False  False  False

procdump

Explanation: Dumps a process executable from memory to disk. Requires specifying the process ID. Useful for further malware analysis.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 procdump -p 1420 --dump-dir=./

Example Output:

Process(V) ImageBase Name         Result
0x2f3c5d40 0x400000  malware.exe  OK: dumped

netscan

Explanation: Identifies network connections (active and closed) at the time of capture. Useful for tracking communication with remote systems.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 netscan

Example Output:

Offset(P) Proto Local Address       Foreign Address     State
0x3f2c89a0 TCP   192.168.1.15:49213 93.184.216.34:80    ESTABLISHED

timeliner

Explanation: Builds a timeline of activity (process creation, file events, etc.) from timestamps in the memory image. Helpful for reconstructing an incident.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 timeliner

Example Output:

2023-03-10 12:39:45 UTC+0000  [Process] Created: malware.exe (PID 1420)
2023-03-10 12:40:12 UTC+0000  [Network] Connection to 93.184.216.34:80

iehistory

Explanation: Extracts Internet Explorer browsing history from memory. Shows visited sites and timestamps.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 iehistory

Example Output:

User: john.smith
URL: http://msn.com/
Visited: 2023-03-10 12:41:00 UTC+0000

filescan

Explanation: Searches memory for file objects and lists them. Can reveal files that were in use or opened.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 filescan

Example Output:

Offset(P)  File Name
0x3c7d2e40 \Program Files\Wireshark\wireshark.exe
0x3c7d5f90 \Users\john.smith\Desktop\Report.docx

cmdline

Explanation: Retrieves the command-line arguments a process was launched with. Often useful for spotting malicious execution parameters.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 cmdline -p 1420

Example Output:

malware.exe pid: 1420
Command line : malware.exe --connect 93.184.216.34 --stealth

dumpfiles

Explanation: Extracts files referenced in memory to a specified directory for analysis.

volatility -f memdump.mem --profile=Win7SP1x64 dumpfiles -n --dump-dir=./

Example Output:

Dumped \Users\john.smith\Desktop\Report.docx
Dumped \Program Files\Wireshark\wireshark.exe

Volatility 3

Volatility 2 was released in 2011 and support ended in August 2021. Volatility 3, released in 2020, is a complete rewrite that improves performance, functionality, and usability.

Volatility 3 Changes

Profiles are no longer required. In Volatility 2, analysts had to run:

volatility -f memdump.mem imageinfo

and then include --profile=PROFILE in every command. Volatility 3 replaces this with symbol tables, which automatically identify structures in memory images and streamline analysis.

The way plugins are used has also changed. Instead of generic plugin names, Volatility 3 uses OS-specific plugins.

Command Differences

Purpose
Volatility 2 Command
Volatility 3 Command

Get process tree

volatility --profile=PROFILE pstree -f file.dmp

python3 vol.py -f file.dmp windows.pstree

List services

volatility --profile=PROFILE svcscan -f file.dmp

python3 vol.py -f file.dmp windows.svcscan

List available registry hives

volatility --profile=Win7SP1x86_23418 -f file.dmp hivelist

python3 vol.py -f file.dmp windows.registry.hivelist

Print cmd commands

volatility --profile=PROFILE cmdline -f file.dmp

python3 vol.py -f file.dmp windows.cmdline

  • --profile is no longer present in Volatility 3.

  • Generic plugin names are now replaced with OS-specific variants:

    • pstree → windows.pstree, linux.pstree, mac.pstree.

  • Analysts must learn different plugin names, but resources like the Volatility Cheat Sheet help with conversion.

Volatility Workbench

Volatility Workbench is a free, open-source GUI variant of Volatility 3 that runs on Windows.

Advantages:

  • No Python installation required.

  • No command-line parameters to remember.

  • Saves platform and process list alongside the image in a .CFG file for faster reloads.

  • Easier copy and paste.

  • Simple saving of dumped data to disk.

  • Drop-down of available commands with short descriptions.

  • Command execution is time-stamped.

Using Volatility Workbench

Launch VolatilityWorkbench.exe.

  • Click Browse Image (top right) and select the memory dump.

  • Choose Platform (OS) and a command from the drop-downs (top left).

  • Run the command to view results. Example: executing windows.pslist returns process listings immediately.

  • Use Copy (bottom right) to place results on the clipboard, or Save to file to export.

Note: The tool runs on Windows only; it isn’t available natively on Linux.

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