What is Memory Forensics

What is Memory Forensics?

Memory forensics involves capturing and analyzing a system's volatile memory (RAM) to investigate and uncover evidence of cyber threats. It is an essential practice in digital forensics and incident response for identifying active malicious activities, such as malware, network communications, and compromised credentials.

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Why Memory Forensics is Important

1. Volatile Nature of Memory:

   • RAM stores temporary data that is lost upon system shutdown.

   • Critical data like running processes, open network connections, and encryption keys exist only in memory.

   • Without memory acquisition, investigators risk losing volatile evidence after a reboot or shutdown.

2. Fast Acquisition and Analysis:

   • Memory captures are quicker to obtain than full disk images.

   • Analysis provides immediate insights into live system activities.

3. Critical Information Stored in Memory:

   • Active Processes: Identifies running applications, including hidden or malicious processes.

   • Network Connections: Tracks active communication, especially with malicious Command and Control (C2) servers.

   • Credentials and Keys: Captures session tokens, plaintext passwords, and encryption keys.

   • Command History: Reveals recently executed commands that may indicate attacker behavior.

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Use Cases for Memory Forensics

1. Malware Analysis:

   • Detect malware that resides only in memory.

   • Analyze injected code and identify rootkits.

2. Incident Response:

   • Quickly understand the scope of an attack.

   • Identify and isolate threats without shutting down critical systems.

3. Network Forensics:

   • Analyze live connections and detect unauthorized communications.

   • Investigate data exfiltration or lateral movement.

4. Credential Recovery:

   • Extract passwords and session tokens for investigation.

   • Recover keys for encrypted drives or applications.

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Key Tools for Memory Acquisition

1. FTK Imager:

   • Captures both memory and disk images.

   • Supports live system acquisition with minimal impact.

2. DumpIt:

   • Simple tool for acquiring full memory dumps on Windows.

   • Lightweight and ideal for rapid collection during incident response.

3. AVML (Azure Virtual Memory Library):

   • A Microsoft tool for Linux memory acquisition.

   • Provides fast, reliable acquisition with minimal system impact.

4. Belkasoft RAM Capturer:

   • Captures memory from Windows systems.

   • Focuses on minimizing changes to the system state during acquisition.

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Memory Forensics in the Incident Response Lifecycle

• Network Isolation:

  • Instead of shutting down a compromised system, isolate it from the network to preserve volatile data.

• Memory Acquisition:

  • Capture the system's memory to preserve evidence of live threats.

• Rapid Triage and Analysis:

  • Analyze the memory dump to quickly identify attack vectors, active malware, and compromised accounts.

• Guided Investigation:

  • Use initial findings to focus further forensic efforts, such as disk analysis or log correlation.

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Next Steps: Analyzing Memory Dumps

• Set Baselines for Memory Analysis: Understand normal system activity to spot anomalies.

• Identify Key Artifacts: Look for specific evidence like hidden processes, DLL injections, and network activity.

• Explore Tools:

  • Volatility: A powerful framework for extracting artifacts from memory dumps.

  • Rekall: A forensic toolset for analyzing memory on different operating systems.

By mastering these tools, analysts can efficiently uncover evidence hidden in volatile memory and respond to incidents with greater confidence and precision.