Crash dumps, often overlooked in digital forensics, can be a goldmine for incident responders when traditional logs are missing or wiped. Windows Error Reporting (WER) and crash dump analysis can reveal critical forensic artifacts, including malware configurations, memory remnants, and attacker tools like Cobalt Strike.
🔗 Read the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eBuK8rE7
Key Discoveries:
- Cobalt Strike configurations hidden inside crash dumps.
- THOR successfully detected key indicators even when event logs were wiped.
- WinDBG analysis exposed memory artifacts critical for attribution.
You Should Know:
1. Extracting Crash Dumps in Windows
Crash dumps are stored in:
– `%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP` (Full memory dump)
– `%SystemRoot%\Minidump\.dmp` (Mini crash dumps)
Commands to Extract Crash Dumps:
List all crash dumps Get-ChildItem -Path "$env:SystemRoot\Minidump\" -Recurse Copy crash dump for analysis Copy-Item "$env:SystemRoot\MEMORY.DMP" -Destination "C:\Forensics\MemoryDump.dmp"
2. Analyzing Crash Dumps with WinDBG
WinDBG is a powerful tool for memory forensics.
Basic WinDBG Commands:
Load a crash dump windbg -y "SymbolsPath" -z "C:\path\to\dump.dmp" Analyze loaded modules lm Search for malicious strings !str -a "CobaltStrike" Check process memory !process 0 0
- Using THOR for Automated Crash Dump Analysis
THOR (Nextron Systems) can scan crash dumps for IOCs.
THOR Command Example:
thor64 --dump C:\path\to\dump.dmp --ioc iocs.txt
- Linux Memory Forensics (Volatility) for Cross-Platform Analysis
If analyzing memory from a Linux system:
volatility -f memory.dmp --profile=Win10x64_19041 pslist volatility -f memory.dmp --profile=Win10x64_19041 malfind
What Undercode Say
Crash dump analysis is an often-neglected but highly valuable forensic technique. Attackers frequently wipe logs, but crash dumps may retain critical evidence. Tools like WinDBG, THOR, and Volatility can extract malware configurations, process remnants, and attacker tools.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Always check crash dumps when logs are missing.
✅ Use WinDBG for deep memory analysis—hidden strings and process artifacts can reveal malware.
✅ Automate with THOR for quick IOC scanning.
✅ Combine with Volatility for cross-platform forensics.
Expected Output:
A forensic report containing:
- Malware configurations (e.g., Cobalt Strike beacons).
- Process artifacts from memory.
- IOCs (Indicators of Compromise) extracted from crash dumps.
Prediction
As attackers increasingly wipe logs, crash dump forensics will become a standard in IR workflows, with more tools integrating automated dump analysis. Expect AI-assisted memory forensics to accelerate crash dump parsing in the near future.
References:
Reported By: Nextron Systems – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅
