| name | zsteg |
| description | Auth/lab ref: zsteg PNG/BMP steganography; LSB, bit-plane, color-channel, hidden-data extraction after metadata/strings checks. |
| compatibility | Linux, macOS, WSL; Ruby gem; strongest on PNG and BMP. |
| metadata | {"author":"AeonDave","version":"1.0"} |
zsteg
Bit-plane spelunking for images that are too quiet on the surface.
When to use zsteg
Use zsteg when you need to:
- scan PNG/BMP files for common LSB and channel-hiding tricks
- enumerate embedded payload candidates quickly
- extract a promising payload for deeper analysis
Quick Start
zsteg -a image.png
zsteg image.png
High-Value Workflows
Extract a specific candidate
zsteg -E "b1,r,lsb,xy" image.png > payload.bin
Broad PNG/BMP triage
- Run
zsteg -a.
- Review human-readable hits first.
- Extract promising payloads with
-E.
- Feed extracted bytes into
file, strings, foremost, or archive tools.
Practical Notes
- zsteg shines on PNG/BMP artifacts; JPEG-focused suspects usually belong to other workflows.
- Not every hit is meaningful; short text fragments and compressed junk both show up.
- Pair with
steghide, stegseek, and normal image triage rather than betting everything on one pass.
Caveats
- False positives are common on busy or large images.
- The interesting payload may need decompression or decoding after extraction.
- Channel/bit-order choice matters; extraction without context can mislead.
Resources
No bundled scripts/, references/, or assets/.
Use the upstream README for extractor spec syntax and advanced scan flags.
