ctf-forensics

name	ctf-forensics
description	Digital forensics: disk/memory images (Volatility), PCAP + network steganography, Windows event logs & registry, side-channel power/EM traces, RF/SDR/DTMF/POCSAG decode, logic-analyzer (sigrok), image/audio stego, cryptocurrency tracing. Dispatch on file magic.

CTF Forensics & Blockchain

Quick reference for forensics CTF challenges. Each technique has a one-liner here; see supporting files for full details.

Additional Resources

• 3d-printing.md — PrusaSlicer G-code, QOIF, heatshrink
• windows.md — registry, SAM, event logs, Amcache, WMI persistence, MPLog
• network.md — tcpdump, TLS keylog, SMB3 decrypt, USB HID steno, split-archive reassembly
• network-advanced.md — packet-timing, NTLMv2, DNS stego, SMB RID recycle, UA-gated C2 hex-XOR
• disk-and-memory.md — Volatility, VMDK/VHD, RAID5 XOR, PowerShell ransomware, Docker/cloud
• disk-and-memory-2.md — 2024-26: ZFS, GPT GUID, KAPE, APFS snapshots, ransomware key recovery
• steganography.md — image stego: LSB, binary border, JPEG thumbnail, GIF differential
• steganography-2.md — 2024-26: PDF, PNG chunks, JPEG DQT, F5, jigsaw, QR tiles, seed-permuted
• stego-advanced.md — FFT audio, DTMF/SSTV, multi-track diff, video frame accum
• linux-forensics.md — log analysis, Docker image, browser artifacts, git recovery, KeePass v4
• signals-and-hardware.md — VGA/HDMI/DP decode, POCSAG, PulseView I²C, flash ADC, DPA

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Pattern Recognition Index

Dispatch on observed file types / byte signals, not challenge titles.

Signal in provided material	Technique → file
.pcap / .pcapng	network.md (then network-advanced.md for timing/covert channels)
.sr / .srzip / .logicdata (logic analyser) with SCL/SDA channels	PulseView I²C decoder + datasheet → signals-and-hardware.md
.sr / .logicdata with single data line, start/stop bits	Saleae UART decode → signals-and-hardware.md
complex64/complex128 binary + sample-rate in prompt	IQ FFT masking / GQRX pipeline → signals-and-hardware.md
Audio with pager-like chirps, narrow FM channel	POCSAG → GQRX→sox→multimon-ng → signals-and-hardware.md
Schematic with stack of op-amps + resistor ladder on shared input	Flash ADC recovery → signals-and-hardware.md
Power traces shape (positions, guesses, traces, samples)	DPA / CPA → signals-and-hardware.md
.raw / .vmem / .dmp / .lime (memory dump)	Volatility → disk-and-memory.md
.E01 / .dd / .img / VMDK	Disk carving / partitioning → disk-and-memory.md
.evtx, SAM, NTUSER.DAT, SRUDB.dat	Windows forensics → windows.md
Audio WAV with sync spikes or steady tones	Spectrogram / DTMF / SSTV → stego-advanced.md
PNG/JPEG/BMP with suspicious size or LSB patterns	Image stego → steganography.md
.git/ directory fragment / dangling blob	Git reflog / fsck / blob repair → linux-forensics.md
Tarball from docker save + .git/objects/??/… files present but refs/HEAD damaged	Raw zlib_decode of every object → disk-and-memory-2.md
RAID disks with one missing, equal-size members	RAID5 XOR recovery → disk-and-memory.md
PCAP where only a specific User-Agent gets non-default responses + hex-looking paths	UA-gated C2 URL-path hex-XOR exfil → network-advanced.md
Two trace-sets labelled fixed_vs_random / key_t vs key_r / NIST-TVLA README	Welch's t-test leakage check → signals-and-hardware.md#tvla
Constant-time code + traces of equal length but visibly different shape	Morphology-over-duration clustering → signals-and-hardware.md#morphology
AES first-round target, 5k-10k traces with known plaintexts (.npy + plaintexts)	CPA on sbox(p ⊕ k) Hamming weight → signals-and-hardware.md#cpa

Recognize artefacts and bytes, not names. If the file type matches, the section applies regardless of challenge title.

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For inline code/cheatsheet quick references (grep patterns, one-liners, common payloads), see quickref.md. The Pattern Recognition Index above is the dispatch table — always consult it first; load quickref.md only if you need a concrete snippet after dispatch.