Once identified the correct profile, we can start to analyze the processes in the memory and, when the dump come from a windows system, the loaded DLLs.

pslist

To list the processes of a system, use the pslist command. This walks the doubly-linked list pointed to by PsActiveProcessHead and shows the offset, process name, process ID, the parent process ID, number of threads, number of handles, and date/time when the process started and exited. As of 2.1 it also shows the Session ID and if the process is a Wow64 process (it uses a 32 bit address space on a 64 bit kernel).

This plugin does not detect hidden or unlinked processes (but psscan can do that).

If you see processes with 0 threads, 0 handles, and/or a non-empty exit time, the process may not actually still be active.

For more information, see

Below, you’ll notice regsvr32.exe has terminated even though its still in the "active" list.

Also note the two processes System and smss.exe will not have a Session ID, because System starts before sessions are established and smss.exeis the session manager itself.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 pslist
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Offset(V)          Name                    PID   PPID   Thds     Hnds   Sess  Wow64 Start                Exit                
------------------ -------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------- ------ ------ -------------------- --------------------
0xfffffa80004b09e0 System                    4      0     78      489 ------      0 2012-02-22 19:58:20                      
0xfffffa8000ce97f0 smss.exe                208      4      2       29 ------      0 2012-02-22 19:58:20                      
0xfffffa8000c006c0 csrss.exe               296    288      9      385      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:24                      
0xfffffa8000c92300 wininit.exe             332    288      3       74      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:30                      
0xfffffa8000c06b30 csrss.exe               344    324      7      252      1      0 2012-02-22 19:58:30                      
0xfffffa8000c80b30 winlogon.exe            372    324      5      136      1      0 2012-02-22 19:58:31                      
0xfffffa8000c5eb30 services.exe            428    332      6      193      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:32                      
0xfffffa80011c5700 lsass.exe               444    332      6      557      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:32                      
0xfffffa8000ea31b0 lsm.exe                 452    332     10      133      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:32                      
0xfffffa8001296b30 svchost.exe             568    428     10      352      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:34                      
0xfffffa80012c3620 svchost.exe             628    428      6      247      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:34                      
0xfffffa8001325950 sppsvc.exe              816    428      5      154      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:41                      
0xfffffa80007b7960 svchost.exe             856    428     16      404      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:43                      
0xfffffa80007bb750 svchost.exe             880    428     34     1118      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:43                      
0xfffffa80007d09e0 svchost.exe             916    428     19      443      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:43                      
0xfffffa8000c64840 svchost.exe             348    428     14      338      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:07                      
0xfffffa8000c09630 svchost.exe             504    428     16      496      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:07                      
0xfffffa8000e86690 spoolsv.exe            1076    428     12      271      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:10                      
0xfffffa8000518b30 svchost.exe            1104    428     18      307      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:10                      
0xfffffa800094d960 wlms.exe               1264    428      4       43      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:11                      
0xfffffa8000995b30 svchost.exe            1736    428     12      200      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:25                      
0xfffffa8000aa0b30 SearchIndexer.         1800    428     12      757      0      0 2012-02-22 20:02:26                      
0xfffffa8000aea630 taskhost.exe           1144    428      7      189      1      0 2012-02-22 20:02:41                      
0xfffffa8000eafb30 dwm.exe                1476    856      3       71      1      0 2012-02-22 20:02:41                      
0xfffffa80008f3420 explorer.exe           1652    840     21      760      1      0 2012-02-22 20:02:42                      
0xfffffa8000c9a630 regsvr32.exe           1180   1652      0 --------      1      0 2012-02-22 20:03:05  2012-02-22 20:03:08 
0xfffffa8000a03b30 rundll32.exe           2016    568      3       67      1      0 2012-02-22 20:03:16                      
0xfffffa8000a4f630 svchost.exe            1432    428     12      350      0      0 2012-02-22 20:04:14                      
0xfffffa8000999780 iexplore.exe           1892   1652     19      688      1      1 2012-02-22 11:26:12                      
0xfffffa80010c9060 iexplore.exe           2820   1892     23      733      1      1 2012-02-22 11:26:15                      
0xfffffa8001016060 DumpIt.exe             2860   1652      2       42      1      1 2012-02-22 11:28:59                      
0xfffffa8000acab30 conhost.exe            2236    344      2       51      1      0 2012-02-22 11:28:59

By default, pslist shows virtual offsets for the _EPROCESS but the physical offset can be obtained with the -P switch:

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 pslist -P 
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Offset(P)          Name                    PID   PPID   Thds     Hnds   Sess  Wow64 Start                Exit                
------------------ -------------------- ------ ------ ------ -------- ------ ------ -------------------- --------------------
0x0000000017fef9e0 System                    4      0     78      489 ------      0 2012-02-22 19:58:20                      
0x00000000176e97f0 smss.exe                208      4      2       29 ------      0 2012-02-22 19:58:20                      
0x00000000176006c0 csrss.exe               296    288      9      385      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:24                      
0x0000000017692300 wininit.exe             332    288      3       74      0      0 2012-02-22 19:58:30                      
0x0000000017606b30 csrss.exe               344    324      7      252      1      0 2012-02-22 19:58:30
...

pstree

To view the process listing in tree form, use the pstree command. This enumerates processes using the same technique as pslist, so it will also not show hidden or unlinked processes. Child process are indicated using indention and periods.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 pstree
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Name                                                  Pid   PPid   Thds   Hnds Time                
-------------------------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ --------------------
 0xfffffa80004b09e0:System                              4      0     78    489 2012-02-22 19:58:20 
. 0xfffffa8000ce97f0:smss.exe                         208      4      2     29 2012-02-22 19:58:20 
 0xfffffa8000c006c0:csrss.exe                         296    288      9    385 2012-02-22 19:58:24 
 0xfffffa8000c92300:wininit.exe                       332    288      3     74 2012-02-22 19:58:30 
. 0xfffffa8000c5eb30:services.exe                     428    332      6    193 2012-02-22 19:58:32 
.. 0xfffffa8000aa0b30:SearchIndexer.                 1800    428     12    757 2012-02-22 20:02:26 
.. 0xfffffa80007d09e0:svchost.exe                     916    428     19    443 2012-02-22 19:58:43 
.. 0xfffffa8000a4f630:svchost.exe                    1432    428     12    350 2012-02-22 20:04:14 
.. 0xfffffa800094d960:wlms.exe                       1264    428      4     43 2012-02-22 20:02:11 
.. 0xfffffa8001325950:sppsvc.exe                      816    428      5    154 2012-02-22 19:58:41 
.. 0xfffffa8000e86690:spoolsv.exe                    1076    428     12    271 2012-02-22 20:02:10 
.. 0xfffffa8001296b30:svchost.exe                     568    428     10    352 2012-02-22 19:58:34 
... 0xfffffa8000a03b30:rundll32.exe                  2016    568      3     67 2012-02-22 20:03:16
...

psscan

To enumerate processes using pool tag scanning (_POOL_HEADER), use the psscan command. This can find processes that previously terminated (inactive) and processes that have been hidden or unlinked by a rootkit. The downside is that rootkits can still hide by overwriting the pool tag values (though not commonly seen in the wild).

$ vol.py --profile=Win7SP0x86 -f win7.dmp psscan
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.0
 Offset     Name             PID    PPID   PDB        Time created             Time exited             
---------- ---------------- ------ ------ ---------- ------------------------ ------------------------ 
0x3e025ba8 svchost.exe        1116    508 0x3ecf1220 2010-06-16 15:25:25                              
0x3e04f070 svchost.exe        1152    508 0x3ecf1340 2010-06-16 15:27:40                              
0x3e144c08 dwm.exe            1540    832 0x3ecf12e0 2010-06-16 15:26:58                              
0x3e145c18 TPAutoConnSvc.     1900    508 0x3ecf1360 2010-06-16 15:25:41                              
0x3e3393f8 lsass.exe           516    392 0x3ecf10e0 2010-06-16 15:25:18                              
0x3e35b8f8 svchost.exe         628    508 0x3ecf1120 2010-06-16 15:25:19                              
0x3e383770 svchost.exe         832    508 0x3ecf11a0 2010-06-16 15:25:20                              
0x3e3949d0 svchost.exe         740    508 0x3ecf1160 2010-06-16 15:25:20                              
0x3e3a5100 svchost.exe         872    508 0x3ecf11c0 2010-06-16 15:25:20                              
0x3e3f64e8 svchost.exe         992    508 0x3ecf1200 2010-06-16 15:25:24                              
0x3e45a530 wininit.exe         392    316 0x3ecf10a0 2010-06-16 15:25:15                              
0x3e45d928 svchost.exe        1304    508 0x3ecf1260 2010-06-16 15:25:28                              
0x3e45f530 csrss.exe           400    384 0x3ecf1040 2010-06-16 15:25:15                              
0x3e4d89c8 vmtoolsd.exe       1436    508 0x3ecf1280 2010-06-16 15:25:30                              
0x3e4db030 spoolsv.exe        1268    508 0x3ecf1240 2010-06-16 15:25:28                              
0x3e50b318 services.exe        508    392 0x3ecf1080 2010-06-16 15:25:18                              
0x3e7f3d40 csrss.exe           352    316 0x3ecf1060 2010-06-16 15:25:12                              
0x3e7f5bc0 winlogon.exe        464    384 0x3ecf10c0 2010-06-16 15:25:18                              
0x3eac6030 SearchProtocol     2448   1168 0x3ecf15c0 2010-06-16 23:30:52      2010-06-16 23:33:14     
0x3eb10030 SearchFilterHo     1812   1168 0x3ecf1480 2010-06-16 23:31:02      2010-06-16 23:33:14 
[snip]

If a process has previously terminated, the Time exited field will show the exit time. If you want to investigate a hidden process (such as displaying its DLLs), then you’ll need physical offset of the _EPROCESSobject, which is shown in the far left column. Almost all process-related plugins take a --OFFSET parameter so that you can work with hidden processes.


psdispscan

This plugin is similar to psscan, except it enumerates processes by scanning for DISPATCHER_HEADER instead of pool tags. This gives you an alternate way to carve _EPROCESS objects in the event an attacker tried to hide by altering pool tags. This plugin is not well maintained and only supports XP x86. To use it, you must type --plugins=contrib/plugins on command-line.


dlllist

To display a process’s loaded DLLs, use the dlllist command. It walks the doubly-linked list of _LDR_DATA_TABLE_ENTRY structures which is pointed to by the PEB's InLoadOrderModuleList. DLLs are automatically added to this list when a process calls LoadLibrary (or some derivative such as LdrLoadDll) and they aren't removed until FreeLibrary is called and the reference count reaches zero. The load count column tells you if a DLL was statically loaded (i.e. as a result of being in the exe or another DLL's import table) or dynamically loaded.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 dlllist 
************************************************************************
wininit.exe pid:    332
Command line : wininit.exe
Base                             Size          LoadCount Path
------------------ ------------------ ------------------ ----
0x00000000ff530000            0x23000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\wininit.exe
0x0000000076d40000           0x1ab000             0xffff C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
0x0000000076b20000           0x11f000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\kernel32.dll
0x000007fefcd50000            0x6b000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll
0x0000000076c40000            0xfa000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\USER32.dll
0x000007fefd7c0000            0x67000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\GDI32.dll
0x000007fefe190000             0xe000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\LPK.dll
0x000007fefef80000            0xca000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\USP10.dll
0x000007fefd860000            0x9f000             0xffff C:\Windows\system32\msvcrt.dll
[snip]

To display the DLLs for a specific process instead of all processes, use the -p or --pid filter as shown below. Also, in the following output, notice we're analyzing a Wow64 process. Wow64 processes have a limited list of DLLs in the PEB lists, but that doesn't mean they're the only DLLs loaded in the process address space. Thus Volatility will remind you to use the ldrmodules instead for these processes.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 dlllist -p 1892
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
************************************************************************
iexplore.exe pid:   1892
Command line : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" 
Note: use ldrmodules for listing DLLs in Wow64 processes
Base                             Size          LoadCount Path
------------------ ------------------ ------------------ ----
0x0000000000080000            0xa6000             0xffff C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
0x0000000076d40000           0x1ab000             0xffff C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
0x00000000748d0000            0x3f000                0x3 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\wow64.dll
0x0000000074870000            0x5c000                0x1 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\wow64win.dll
0x0000000074940000             0x8000                0x1 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\wow64cpu.dll

To display the DLLs for a process that is hidden or unlinked by a rootkit, first use the psscan to get the physical offset of the EPROCESS object and supply it with — offset=OFFSET. The plugin will “bounce back” and determine the virtual address of the EPROCESS and then acquire an address space in order to access the PEB.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 dlllist --offset=0x04a291a8

dlldump

To extract a DLL from a process’s memory space and dump it to disk for analysis, use the dlldump command. The syntax is nearly the same as what we’ve shown for dlllist above. You can:

  • Dump all DLLs from all processes
  • Dump all DLLs from a specific process (with --pid=PID)
  • Dump all DLLs from a hidden/unlinked process (with --offset=OFFSET)
  • Dump a PE from anywhere in process memory (with --base=BASEADDR), this option is useful for extracting hidden DLLs
  • Dump one or more DLLs that match a regular expression (--regex=REGEX), case sensitive or not (--ignore-case)

To specify an output directory, use --dump-dir=DIR or -d DIR.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 dlldump -D dlls/
...
Process(V)         Name                 Module Base        Module Name          Result
------------------ -------------------- ------------------ -------------------- ------
0xfffffa8000ce97f0 smss.exe             0x0000000047a90000 smss.exe             OK: module.208.176e97f0.47a90000.dll
0xfffffa8000ce97f0 smss.exe             0x0000000076d40000                      Error: DllBase is paged
0xfffffa8000c006c0 csrss.exe            0x0000000049700000 csrss.exe            OK: module.296.176006c0.49700000.dll
0xfffffa8000c006c0 csrss.exe            0x0000000076d40000 ntdll.dll            Error: DllBase is paged
0xfffffa8000c006c0 csrss.exe            0x000007fefd860000 msvcrt.dll           Error: DllBase is paged
0xfffffa80011c5700 lsass.exe            0x000007fefcc40000 WINSTA.dll           Error: DllBase is paged
0xfffffa80011c5700 lsass.exe            0x000007fefd7c0000 GDI32.dll            OK: module.444.173c5700.7fefd7c0000.dll
0xfffffa80011c5700 lsass.exe            0x000007fefc270000 DNSAPI.dll           OK: module.444.173c5700.7fefc270000.dll
0xfffffa80011c5700 lsass.exe            0x000007fefc5d0000 Secur32.dll          OK: module.444.173c5700.7fefc5d0000.dll
...

If the extraction fails, as it did for a few DLLs above, it probably means that some of the memory pages in that DLL were not memory resident (due to paging). In particular, this is a problem if the first page containing the PE header and thus the PE section mappings is not available. In these cases you can still extract the memory segment using the vaddump command, but you’ll need to manually rebuild the PE header and fixup the sections (if you plan on analyzing in IDA Pro) as described in Recovering CoreFlood Binaries with Volatility.

To dump a PE file that doesn’t exist in the DLLs list (for example, due to code injection or malicious unlinking), just specify the base address of the PE in process memory:

$ vol.py --profile=Win7SP0x86 -f win7.dmp dlldump --pid=492 -D out --base=0x00680000

You can also specify an EPROCESS offset if the DLL you want is in a hidden process:

$ vol.py --profile=Win7SP0x86 -f win7.dmp dlldump -o 0x3e3f64e8 -D out --base=0x00680000

handles

To display the open handles in a process, use the handles command. This applies to files, registry keys, mutexes, named pipes, events, window stations, desktops, threads, and all other types of securable executive objects. As of 2.1, the output includes handle value and granted access for each object.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 handles
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Offset(V)             Pid             Handle             Access Type             Details
------------------ ------ ------------------ ------------------ ---------------- -------
0xfffffa80004b09e0      4                0x4           0x1fffff Process          System(4)
0xfffff8a0000821a0      4               0x10            0x2001f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\CONTROL\PRODUCTOPTIONS
0xfffff8a00007e040      4               0x14            0xf003f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\CONTROL\SESSION MANAGER\MEMORY MANAGEMENT\PREFETCHPARAMETERS
0xfffff8a000081fa0      4               0x18            0x2001f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\SETUP
0xfffffa8000546990      4               0x1c           0x1f0001 ALPC Port        PowerMonitorPort
0xfffffa800054d070      4               0x20           0x1f0001 ALPC Port        PowerPort
0xfffff8a0000676a0      4               0x24            0x20019 Key              MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\SYSTEM\MULTIFUNCTIONADAPTER
0xfffffa8000625460      4               0x28           0x1fffff Thread           TID 160 PID 4
0xfffff8a00007f400      4               0x2c            0xf003f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001
0xfffff8a00007f200      4               0x30            0xf003f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\ENUM
0xfffff8a000080d10      4               0x34            0xf003f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\CONTROL\CLASS
0xfffff8a00007f500      4               0x38            0xf003f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\SERVICES
0xfffff8a0001cd990      4               0x3c                0xe Token            
0xfffff8a00007bfa0      4               0x40            0x20019 Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\CONTROL\WMI\SECURITY
0xfffffa8000cd52b0      4               0x44           0x120116 File             \Device\Mup
0xfffffa8000ce97f0      4               0x48               0x2a Process          smss.exe(208)
0xfffffa8000df16f0      4               0x4c           0x120089 File             \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\en-US\win32k.sys.mui
0xfffffa8000de37f0      4               0x50           0x12019f File             \Device\clfsTxfLog
0xfffff8a000952fa0      4               0x54            0x2001f Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\CONTROL\VIDEO\{6A8FC9DC-A76B-47FC-A703-17800182E1CE}\0000\VOLATILESETTINGS
0xfffffa800078da20      4               0x58           0x12019f File             \Device\Tcp
0xfffff8a002e17610      4               0x5c                0x9 Key              MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENTVERSION\IMAGE FILE EXECUTION OPTIONS
0xfffff8a0008f7b00      4               0x60               0x10 Key              MACHINE\SYSTEM\CONTROLSET001\CONTROL\LSA
0xfffffa8000da2870      4               0x64           0x100001 File             \Device\KsecDD
0xfffffa8000da3040      4               0x68                0x0 Thread           TID 228 PID 4
...

You can display handles for a particular process by specifying --pid=PIDor the physical offset of an _EPROCESS structure (--physical-offset=OFFSET). You can also filter by object type using -t or --object-type=OBJECTTYPE. For example to only display handles to process objects for pid 600, do the following:

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 handles -p 296 -t Process
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Offset(V)             Pid             Handle             Access Type             Details
------------------ ------ ------------------ ------------------ ---------------- -------
0xfffffa8000c92300    296               0x54           0x1fffff Process          wininit.exe(332)
0xfffffa8000c5eb30    296               0xc4           0x1fffff Process          services.exe(428)
0xfffffa80011c5700    296               0xd4           0x1fffff Process          lsass.exe(444)
0xfffffa8000ea31b0    296               0xe4           0x1fffff Process          lsm.exe(452)
0xfffffa8000c64840    296              0x140           0x1fffff Process          svchost.exe(348)
0xfffffa8001296b30    296              0x150           0x1fffff Process          svchost.exe(568)
0xfffffa80012c3620    296              0x18c           0x1fffff Process          svchost.exe(628)
0xfffffa8001325950    296              0x1dc           0x1fffff Process          sppsvc.exe(816)
...

The object type can be any of the names printed by the “object \ObjectTypes” windbg command.

For more details, see

In some cases, the Details column will be blank (for example, if the objects don’t have names).

By default, you’ll see both named and un-named objects. However, if you want to hide the less meaningful results and only show named objects, use the --silent parameter to this plugin.


getsids

To view the SIDs (Security Identifiers) associated with a process, use the getsids command. Among other things, this can help you identify processes which have maliciously escalated privileges and which processes belong to specific users.

For more information, see

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 getsids
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
System (4): S-1-5-18 (Local System)
System (4): S-1-5-32-544 (Administrators)
System (4): S-1-1-0 (Everyone)
System (4): S-1-5-11 (Authenticated Users)
System (4): S-1-16-16384 (System Mandatory Level)
smss.exe (208): S-1-5-18 (Local System)
smss.exe (208): S-1-5-32-544 (Administrators)
smss.exe (208): S-1-1-0 (Everyone)
smss.exe (208): S-1-5-11 (Authenticated Users)
smss.exe (208): S-1-16-16384 (System Mandatory Level)
[snip]

cmdscan

The cmdscan plugin searches the memory of csrss.exe on XP/2003/Vista/2008 and conhost.exe on Windows 7 for commands that attackers entered through a console shell (cmd.exe). This is one of the most powerful commands you can use to gain visibility into an attackers actions on a victim system, whether they opened cmd.exe through an RDP session or proxied input/output to a command shell from a networked backdoor.

This plugin finds structures known as COMMAND_HISTORY by looking for a known constant value (MaxHistory) and then applying sanity checks. It is important to note that the MaxHistory value can be changed by right clicking in the top left of a cmd.exe window and going to Properties. The value can also be changed for all consoles opened by a given user by modifying the registry key HKCU\Console\HistoryBufferSize. The default is 50 on Windows systems, meaning the most recent 50 commands are saved. You can tweak it if needed by using the — max_history=NUMBER parameter.

The structures used by this plugin are not public (i.e. Microsoft does not produce PDBs for them), thus they’re not available in WinDBG or any other forensic framework. They were reverse engineered by Michael Ligh from the conhost.exe and winsrv.dll binaries.

In addition to the commands entered into a shell, this plugin shows:

  • The name of the console host process (csrss.exe or conhost.exe)
  • The name of the application using the console (whatever process is using cmd.exe)
  • The location of the command history buffers, including the current buffer count, last added command, and last displayed command
  • The application process handle

Due to the scanning technique this plugin uses, it has the capability to find commands from both active and closed consoles.

$ vol.py -f VistaSP2x64.vmem --profile=VistaSP2x64 cmdscan
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
**************************************************
CommandProcess: csrss.exe Pid: 528
CommandHistory: 0x135ec00 Application: cmd.exe Flags: Allocated, Reset
CommandCount: 18 LastAdded: 17 LastDisplayed: 17
FirstCommand: 0 CommandCountMax: 50
ProcessHandle: 0x330
Cmd #0 @ 0x135ef10: cd \
Cmd #1 @ 0x135ef50: cd de
Cmd #2 @ 0x135ef70: cd PerfLogs
Cmd #3 @ 0x135ef90: cd ..
Cmd #4 @ 0x5c78b90: cd "Program Files"
Cmd #5 @ 0x135fae0: cd "Debugging Tools for Windows (x64)"
Cmd #6 @ 0x135efb0: livekd -w
Cmd #7 @ 0x135f010: windbg 
Cmd #8 @ 0x135efd0: cd \
Cmd #9 @ 0x135fd20: rundll32 c:\apphelp.dll,ExportFunc
Cmd #10 @ 0x5c8bdb0: rundll32 c:\windows_apphelp.dll,ExportFunc
Cmd #11 @ 0x5c8be10: rundll32 c:\windows_apphelp.dll
Cmd #12 @ 0x135ee30: rundll32 c:\windows_apphelp.dll,Test
Cmd #13 @ 0x135fd70: cd "Program Files"
Cmd #14 @ 0x5c8b9e0: dir
Cmd #15 @ 0x5c8be60: cd "Debugging Tools for Windows (x64)"
Cmd #16 @ 0x5c8ba00: dir
Cmd #17 @ 0x135eff0: livekd -w
[snip]

More information:


consoles

Similar to cmdscan the consoles plugin finds commands that attackers typed into cmd.exe or executed via backdoors. However, instead of scanning for COMMAND_HISTORY, this plugin scans for CONSOLE_INFORMATION. The major advantage to this plugin is it not only prints the commands attackers typed, but it collects the entire screen buffer (input and output). For instance, instead of just seeing “dir”, you’ll see exactly what the attacker saw, including all files and directories listed by the “dir” command.

Additionally, this plugin prints the following:

  • The original console window title and current console window title
  • The name and pid of attached processes (walks a LIST_ENTRY to enumerate all of them if more than one)
  • Any aliases associated with the commands executed. For example, attackers can register an alias such that typing “hello” actually executes “cd system”
  • The screen coordinates of the cmd.exe console

Here’s an example of the consoles command. Below, you’ll notice something quite funny. The forensic investigator seems to have lost his mind and cannot find the dd.exe tool for dumping memory. Nearly 20 typos later, he finds the tool and uses it.

$ vol.py -f xp-laptop-2005-07-04-1430.img consoles
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
[csrss.exe @ 0x821c11a8 pid 456 console @ 0x4e23b0]
  OriginalTitle: '%SystemRoot%\\system32\\cmd.exe'
  Title: 'C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe - dd if=\\\\.\\PhysicalMemory of=c:\\xp-2005-07-04-1430.img conv=noerror'
  HistoryBufferCount: 2
  HistoryBufferMax: 4
  CommandHistorySize: 50
[history @ 0x4e4008]
  CommandCount: 0
  CommandCountMax: 50
  Application: 'dd.exe'
[history @ 0x4e4d88]
  CommandCount: 20
  CommandCountMax: 50
  Application: 'cmd.exe'
  Cmd #0 @ 0x4e1f90: 'dd'
  Cmd #1 @ 0x4e2cb8: 'cd\\'
  Cmd #2 @ 0x4e2d18: 'dr'
  Cmd #3 @ 0x4e2d28: 'ee:'
  Cmd #4 @ 0x4e2d38: 'e;'
  Cmd #5 @ 0x4e2d48: 'e:'
  Cmd #6 @ 0x4e2d58: 'dr'
  Cmd #7 @ 0x4e2d68: 'd;'
  Cmd #8 @ 0x4e2d78: 'd:'
  Cmd #9 @ 0x4e2d88: 'dr'
  Cmd #10 @ 0x4e2d98: 'ls'
  Cmd #11 @ 0x4e2da8: 'cd Docu'
  Cmd #12 @ 0x4e2dc0: 'cd Documents and'
  Cmd #13 @ 0x4e2e58: 'dr'
  Cmd #14 @ 0x4e2e68: 'd:'
  Cmd #15 @ 0x4e2e78: 'cd dd\\'
  Cmd #16 @ 0x4e2e90: 'cd UnicodeRelease'
  Cmd #17 @ 0x4e2ec0: 'dr'
  Cmd #18 @ 0x4e2ed0: 'dd '
  Cmd #19 @ 0x4e4100: 'dd if=\\\\.\\PhysicalMemory of=c:\\xp-2005-07-04-1430.img conv=noerror'
[screen @ 0x4e2460 X:80 Y:300]
  Output: Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]                                         
  Output: (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.                                         
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\Documents and Settings\Sarah>dd                                              
  Output: 'dd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\Documents and Settings\Sarah>cd\                                             
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>dr                                                                          
  Output: 'dr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>ee:                                                                         
  Output: 'ee:' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                     
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>e;                                                                          
  Output: 'e' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                       
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>e:                                                                          
  Output: The system cannot find the drive specified.                                     
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>dr                                                                          
  Output: 'dr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>d;                                                                          
  Output: 'd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                       
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: C:\>d:                                                                          
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>dr                                                                          
  Output: 'dr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>dr                                                                          
  Output: 'dr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>ls                                                                          
  Output: 'ls' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>cd Docu                                                                     
  Output: The system cannot find the path specified.                                      
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>cd Documents and                                                            
  Output: The system cannot find the path specified.                                      
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>dr                                                                          
  Output: 'dr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>d:                                                                          
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\>cd dd\                                                                      
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\dd>                                                                          
  Output: D:\dd>cd UnicodeRelease                                                         
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\dd\UnicodeRelease>dr                                                         
  Output: 'dr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,                      
  Output: operable program or batch file.                                                 
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: D:\dd\UnicodeRelease>dd                                                         
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: 0+0 records in                                                                  
  Output: 0+0 records out                                                                 
  Output: ^C                                                                              
  Output: D:\dd\UnicodeRelease>dd if=\\.\PhysicalMemory of=c:\xp-2005-07-04-1430.img conv=
  Output: noerror                                                                         
  Output: Forensic Acquisition Utilities, 1, 0, 0, 1035                                   
  Output: dd, 3, 16, 2, 1035                                                              
  Output: Copyright (C) 2002-2004 George M. Garner Jr.                                    
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: Command Line: dd if=\\.\PhysicalMemory of=c:\xp-2005-07-04-1430.img conv=noerror
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: Based on original version developed by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, and Stuart K
  Output: emp                                                                             
  Output: Microsoft Windows: Version 5.1 (Build 2600.Professional Service Pack 2)         
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: 04/07/2005  18:30:32 (UTC)                                                      
  Output: 04/07/2005  14:30:32 (local time)                                               
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: Current User: SPLATITUDE\Sarah                                                  
  Output:                                                                                 
  Output: Total physical memory reported: 523676 KB                                       
  Output: Copying physical memory...                                                      
  Output: Physical memory in the range 0x00004000-0x00004000 could not be read.

privs

This plugin shows you which process privileges are present, enabled, and/or enabled by default. You can pass it the — silent flag to only show privileges that a process explicitly enabled (i.e. that were were not enabled by default but are currently enabled). The — regex=REGEX parameter can be used to filter for specific privilege names.

$ vol.py -f win7_trial_64bit.raw privs --profile=Win7SP0x64
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.3_alpha
Pid      Process          Value  Privilege                            Attributes               Description
-------- ---------------- ------ ------------------------------------ ------------------------ -----------
       4 System                2 SeCreateTokenPrivilege               Present                  Create a token object
       4 System                3 SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege        Present                  Replace a process-level token
       4 System                4 SeLockMemoryPrivilege                Present,Enabled,Default  Lock pages in memory
       4 System                5 SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege             Present                  Increase quotas
       4 System                6 SeMachineAccountPrivilege                                     Add workstations to the domain
       4 System                7 SeTcbPrivilege                       Present,Enabled,Default  Act as part of the operating system
       4 System                8 SeSecurityPrivilege                  Present                  Manage auditing and security log
       4 System                9 SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege             Present                  Take ownership of files/objects
       4 System               10 SeLoadDriverPrivilege                Present                  Load and unload device drivers
       4 System               11 SeSystemProfilePrivilege             Present,Enabled,Default  Profile system performance
       4 System               12 SeSystemtimePrivilege                Present                  Change the system time
       4 System               13 SeProfileSingleProcessPrivilege      Present,Enabled,Default  Profile a single process
       4 System               14 SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege      Present,Enabled,Default  Increase scheduling priority
       4 System               15 SeCreatePagefilePrivilege            Present,Enabled,Default  Create a pagefile
       4 System               16 SeCreatePermanentPrivilege           Present,Enabled,Default  Create permanent shared objects
.....

envars

To display a process’s environment variables, use the envars plugin. Typically this will show the number of CPUs installed and the hardware architecture (though the kdbgscan output is a much more reliable source), the process’s current directory, temporary directory, session name, computer name, user name, and various other interesting artifacts.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 envars
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Pid      Process              Block              Variable                       Value
-------- -------------------- ------------------ ------------------------------ -----
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 ComSpec                        C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 FP_NO_HOST_CHECK               NO
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS           1
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 OS                             Windows_NT
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 Path                           C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 PATHEXT                        .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE         AMD64
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER           Intel64 Family 6 Model 2 Stepping 3, GenuineIntel
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 PROCESSOR_LEVEL                6
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 PROCESSOR_REVISION             0203
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 PSModulePath                   C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 SystemDrive                    C:
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 SystemRoot                     C:\Windows
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 TEMP                           C:\Windows\TEMP
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 TMP                            C:\Windows\TEMP
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 USERNAME                       SYSTEM
     296 csrss.exe            0x00000000003d1320 windir                         C:\Windows

verinfo

To display the version information embedded in PE files, use the verinfo command. Not all PE files have version information, and many malware authors forge it to include false data, but nonetheless this command can be very helpful with identifying binaries and for making correlations with other files.

This plugin only supports printing version information from process executables and DLLs, but later will be expanded to include kernel modules. If you want to filter by module name, use the — regex=REGEX and/or — ignore-case options.

$ vol.py -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 verinfo
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
\SystemRoot\System32\smss.exe
C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
C:\Windows\system32\csrss.exe
  File version    : 6.1.7600.16385
  Product version : 6.1.7600.16385
  Flags           : 
  OS              : Windows NT
  File Type       : Application
  File Date       : 
  CompanyName : Microsoft Corporation
  FileDescription : Client Server Runtime Process
  FileVersion : 6.1.7600.16385 (win7_rtm.090713-1255)
  InternalName : CSRSS.Exe
  LegalCopyright : \xa9 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
  OriginalFilename : CSRSS.Exe
  ProductName : Microsoft\xae Windows\xae Operating System
  ProductVersion : 6.1.7600.16385
[snip]

enumfunc

This plugin enumerates imported and exported functions from processes, dlls, and kernel drivers. Specifically, it handles functions imported by name or ordinal, functions exported by name or ordinal, and forwarded exports. The output will be very verbose in most cases (functions exported by ntdll, msvcrt, and kernel32 can reach 1000+ alone). So you can either reduce the verbosity by filtering criteria with the command-line options (shown below) or you can use look at the code in enumfunc.py and use it as an example of how to use the IAT and EAT parsing API functions in your own plugin. For example, the apihooks plugin leverages the imports and exports APIs to find functions in memory when checking for hooks.

Also note this plugin is in the contrib directory, so you can pass that to — plugins like this:

$ vol.py --plugins=contrib/plugins/ -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 enumfunc -h
....
  -s, --scan            Scan for objects
  -P, --process-only    Process only
  -K, --kernel-only     Kernel only
  -I, --import-only     Imports only
  -E, --export-only     Exports only

To use pool scanners for finding processes and kernel drivers instead of walking linked lists, use the -s option. This can be useful if you’re trying to enumerate functions in hidden processes or drivers. An example of the remaining command-line options is shown below.

To show exported functions in process memory, use -P and -E like this:

$ vol.py --plugins=contrib/plugins/ -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 enumfunc -P -E
Process              Type       Module               Ordinal    Address              Name
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1133       0x000007fefd11dd34 CreateWellKnownSid
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1134       0x000007fefd17a460 CredBackupCredentials
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1135       0x000007fefd170590 CredDeleteA
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1136       0x000007fefd1704d0 CredDeleteW
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1137       0x000007fefd17a310 CredEncryptAndMarshalBinaryBlob
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1138       0x000007fefd17d080 CredEnumerateA
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1139       0x000007fefd17cf50 CredEnumerateW
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1140       0x000007fefd17ca00 CredFindBestCredentialA
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1141       0x000007fefd17c8f0 CredFindBestCredentialW
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1142       0x000007fefd130c10 CredFree
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1143       0x000007fefd1630f0 CredGetSessionTypes
lsass.exe            Export     ADVAPI32.dll         1144       0x000007fefd1703d0 CredGetTargetInfoA
[snip]

To show imported functions in kernel memory, use -K and -I like this:

$ vol.py --plugins=contrib/plugins/ -f ~/Desktop/win7_trial_64bit.raw --profile=Win7SP0x64 enumfunc -K -I
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.4
Process              Type       Module               Ordinal    Address              Name
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         583        0xfffff80002acc320 ntoskrnl.exeIoRegisterPlugPlayNotification
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         1325       0xfffff800029f9f30 ntoskrnl.exeRtlAppendStringToString
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         509        0xfffff800026d06e0 ntoskrnl.exeIoGetAttachedDevice
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         443        0xfffff800028f7ec0 ntoskrnl.exeIoBuildSynchronousFsdRequest
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         1466       0xfffff80002699300 ntoskrnl.exeRtlInitUnicodeString
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         759        0xfffff80002697be0 ntoskrnl.exeKeInitializeEvent
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         1461       0xfffff8000265e8a0 ntoskrnl.exeRtlInitAnsiString
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         1966       0xfffff80002685060 ntoskrnl.exeZwSetValueKey
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         840        0xfffff80002699440 ntoskrnl.exeKeReleaseSpinLock
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         1190       0xfffff800027a98b0 ntoskrnl.exePoRequestPowerIrp
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         158        0xfffff800026840f0 ntoskrnl.exeExInterlockedInsertTailList
<KERNEL>             Import     VIDEOPRT.SYS         1810       0xfffff80002684640 ntoskrnl.exeZwClose
[snip]