memory-frnscs-vltlty

name	memory-frnscs-vltlty
description	Performs memory forensics analysis using Volatility 3 to extract evidence of malware execution, process injection, network connections, and credential theft from RAM dumps captured during incident response. Covers memory acquisition, process analysis, DLL inspection, and malware detection. Activates for requests involving memory forensics, RAM analysis, Volatility framework, memory dump investigation, volatile evidence analysis, or live memory acquisition.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	incident-response
tags	["memory-forensics","volatility","RAM-analysis","process-injection","DFIR"]
mitre_attack	["T1003","T1055","T1620","T1574"]
version	1.0.0
author	mahipal
license	Apache-2.0
nist_csf	["RS.MA-01","RS.MA-02","RS.AN-03","RC.RP-01"]

Conducting Memory Forensics with Volatility

When to Use

• An endpoint has been contained during an active incident and volatile evidence must be preserved
• EDR alerts suggest process injection or fileless malware that only exists in memory
• Encryption keys need to be recovered from a ransomware-infected system before shutdown
• Credential theft (Mimikatz, LSASS dumping) is suspected and evidence must be confirmed
• A rootkit or kernel-level compromise is suspected and disk-based analysis is insufficient

Do not use for analyzing disk images or file system artifacts; use disk forensics tools (Autopsy, FTK) for those tasks.

Prerequisites

• Memory acquisition tool deployed or available: WinPmem, Magnet RAM Capture, DumpIt, or AVML (Linux)
• Volatility 3 installed with Python 3.8+ and required symbol tables
• Sufficient storage for memory dumps (equal to system RAM size, typically 8-64 GB)
• YARA rules for malware detection in memory (Florian Roth's signature-base, custom rules)
• Reference baseline of normal processes and DLLs for the OS version being analyzed
• Chain of custody documentation for evidence handling

Workflow

Step 1: Acquire Memory Image

Capture RAM from the target system using a forensically sound method:

Windows (WinPmem):

winpmem_mini_x64.exe output.raw

Windows (Magnet RAM Capture):

MagnetRAMCapture.exe
# GUI-based, select output path, generates .raw file

Windows (DumpIt):

DumpIt.exe
# Creates memory dump in current directory automatically

Linux (AVML - Acquire Volatile Memory for Linux):

./avml output.lime

Document acquisition metadata:

Acquisition Record:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Target Host:      WKSTN-042
RAM Size:         16 GB
Dump File:        WKSTN-042_20251115_1445.raw
Dump Size:        16,843,612,160 bytes
SHA-256:          a4b3c2d1e5f6...
Acquisition Tool: WinPmem 4.0
Acquired By:      [Analyst Name]
Timestamp:        2025-11-15T14:45:00Z

Step 2: Identify the Operating System and Profile

Volatility 3 automatically identifies the OS, but verify:

# Get system information
vol -f WKSTN-042_20251115_1445.raw windows.info

# Output includes:
# OS: Windows 10 22H2 (Build 19045.3693)