--- title: Volatility 3 — security analysis and diagnostics date: 2026-10-18 time: 12:00 model: admin category: programs author_type: human summary: A memory forensics framework that extracts process, network, and file artifacts from RAM dumps. Extensible through plugins. tags: program, Security analysis and diagnostics, volatility --- This is a memory forensics framework that analyzes RAM dump files to recover processes, files, and network traces that were running. ## Basic Information | Software Name | Volatility 3 | | --- | --- | | One-line Introduction | This is a memory forensics framework that analyzes RAM dump files to recover processes, files, and network traces that were running. | | Development & Maintenance | The Volatility Foundation | | Official Website | https://www.volatilityfoundation.org/ | | Official Documentation | https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3/wiki | | Official Download | https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3/releases | | Supported Operating Systems | Linux, macOS, Windows (Python 3.7 or later) | | License | GPL-3.0-or-later (Volatility 3 framework) | | Stable Version | 2.28.2 (Released 2026-09-17) — Verified on 2026-10-18 | | GitHub Repository | https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3 | | Category | Security Analysis and Diagnostics (Tags: Forensics, Memory Analysis, Digital Evidence, Incident Response) | ## What is this software? Volatility 3 is a forensics framework that analyzes an image dumped from system RAM to extract information remaining in memory at that point. It allows post-mortem recovery of lists of running processes, open files and sockets, login sessions, traces of injected code, and more. Analysis tasks are performed on a per-plugin basis. By providing symbols matching the OS version, plugins like windows.pslist and linux.pslist can output lists. As Volatility 2 was deprecated in 2025, Volatility 3 is now the standard. ## What problems does it solve? - When you need to confirm processes and network connections at the time of infection during incident response, you can reconstruct the execution state from just a RAM dump. - When you need traces remaining in memory even after files have been deleted in forensics, you can recover deleted file fragments, command-line arguments, etc. - When you need to view malware residing in memory without the file system in malware analysis, you can use plugins to check process memory dumps and injection traces. ## Key Features ### Process List Recovery Extracts information about processes that were running from memory. - **Use Case**: Confirm processes at the time of compromise. - **Result Obtained**: Obtain lists of normal and abnormal processes. - **Limitations**: Stealthy processes require additional plugins. ### Network Connection Recovery Extracts information about open sockets and connections. - **Use Case**: Check traces of connections to C2 servers. - **Result Obtained**: Obtain lists of external communication targets and ports. - **Limitations**: Information not present in a simple memory dump cannot be retrieved. ### DLL/Module Injection Analysis Detects modules abnormally mapped into a process. - **Use Case**: Detect code injection. - **Result Obtained**: Identify abnormal memory regions. - **Limitations**: Obfuscated injections may require time to interpret. ### Plugin Structure Allows adding and writing OS-specific and purpose-specific plugins. - **Use Case**: Special environment analysis requirements. - **Result Obtained**: Custom extraction of only the needed evidence. - **Limitations**: Symbol (Dwarf·PDB) provision must be done first. ## Installation and Execution ### Linux (pip) Install via pip on Python 3.7 or later. There are optional dependencies like pycryptodome for disk image processing. ``` git clone https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3.git cd volatility3 python3 -m pip install -e . ``` ### Linux (Direct Execution) Supports downloading via git and running with python. ``` python3 vol.py -h python3 vol.py -f memory.dmp windows.pslist ``` ### macOS / Windows Similarly, obtain the source in a Python environment and run it. ``` python vol.py -f memory.dmp windows.pslist ``` ## Practical Usage Examples ### Check Process List Specify the memory dump with -f and run the windows.pslist (or linux.pslist) plugin. ``` $ python3 vol.py -f memory.dmp windows.pslist PID PPID Image Created 4 0 System 2026-10-18 01:12:03 912 901 nginx 2026-10-18 01:12:07 ``` ### Check Network Connections Use the windows.netscan plugin to check open connections and listening ports. ``` $ python3 vol.py -f memory.dmp windows.netscan Proto Local Address Remote Address State Owner TCP 0.0.0.0:443 0.0.0.0:0 LISTEN nginx TCP 192.0.2.20:51423 198.51.100.7:443 CLOSE_WAIT python3 ``` ### Dump Memory Region Specify a process PID to dump its memory to a file for subsequent analysis. ``` $ python3 vol.py -f memory.dmp -p 912 windows.memmap --dump .dumped.912.dmp created (Process 912 memory) ``` ## Advantages and Limitations ### Advantages - Free and open source (GPL) — Enables memory analysis without commercial forensic tools. - Rich plugin ecosystem per OS (Windows, Linux, macOS). - Performance and plugin organization completed compared to Volatility 2 (current standard). - Script-based, advantageous for batch analysis of large dumps. ### Points to Consider Before Use - You must obtain the symbol files for the OS you are analyzing for accurate results. - Obtaining memory dumps (live acquisition) requires separate tools. - Errors are frequent with plugin/symbol version mismatches, requiring initial setup learning. ## Comparison with Similar Software | Software | Characteristics | Suitable for These Cases | | --- | --- | --- | | Rekall | A forensics framework derived from Volatility. | Legacy pipelines for specific environments. | | LiME | A kernel module for dumping RAM on Linux (extraction tool). | Obtaining dumps, a step prior to Volatility. | | KAPE | A Windows-centric evidence collection and processing tool. | Windows incident response workflows. | ## Official Resources and Further Learning - [Official Website](https://www.volatilityfoundation.org/) — https://www.volatilityfoundation.org/ - [Official Documentation / Knowledge Base](https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3/wiki) — https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3/wiki - [Official Download](https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3/releases) — https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3/releases - [Release Notes](https://volatilityfoundation.org/volatility-timeline) — https://volatilityfoundation.org/volatility-timeline - [Source / Development Resources](https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3) — https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3 Version and supported environment information is based on data verified on the official site as of 2026-10-18. Installation commands may vary depending on your distribution and version, so please check the official installation documentation as well. ## Actual Execution Screenshots Below is a synthetic example screen created to help understand the usage flow (not actual execution results). The screen is a synthetic example and is not actual execution results. ![Volatility 3 example: Recovering process list and network connections from a memory dump](https://games.aidebatehub.com/assets/volatility-demo.png) A server in actual operation. --- Source (HTML): https://games.aidebatehub.com/programs/apps/security/volatility.html This file is an auto-generated Markdown twin of the DevHub document.