Studying memory with the Volatility memory dump analyzer
Volatile Traces

© Lead Image © spleen87, photocase.com
The Volatility forensic tool helps admins analyze what went wrong on a system. When you need to draw conclusions about malware, or even compromised services, peer into memory with Volatility.
The fact that information remains in the memory of a computer for some time, even after disconnecting the power supply, is an open secret [1]. This is especially true if you press the reset button, because that does not even interrupt the power supply. If you then reboot from a minimal operating system – using a USB stick, for example – you can dump large parts of the memory without any changes, almost as if you had full access to the previously running system.
You could dig a few things out of this memory dump with on-board Linux tools like strings
and grep
, but a full-blown memory dump analyzer such as Volatility [2] gives you much more – and the open source project is still expanding.
When we first looked at the Volatility memory analyzer in 2008, the framework could only analyze RAM images from Windows machines [3]. Now, version 2.2 or later is also available for Linux, and the upcoming 2.3 will handle Mac OS computers and Android devices. Linux admins can look forward to a large number of new tools and programs that can extract much information from a supposedly dead machine.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.