Here’s a quick guide for dumpmeister (a memory analysis tool from the Rekall framework) and working with ZIP archives —whether you’re analyzing a memory dump that contains ZIP artifacts, or processing compressed memory dumps.
1. What is DumpMeister? dumpmeister is a Rekall plugin used to extract files from a memory dump (RAM snapshot). It reconstructs file system objects from the page cache , VAD nodes , or pool tags , often recovering deleted or mapped files. Common use case: Recover a ZIP file that was opened/created in memory but never saved to disk, or extract a ZIP from a suspicious process’s memory.
2. Pre-requisites
Install Rekall : pip install rekall Have a memory dump (e.g., memory.dmp , mem.raw ) (Optional) Have a target ZIP file’s signature or name. dumpmeister zip
3. Basic DumpMeister Syntax rekall -f memory.dmp dumpmeister
By default it extracts all reconstructable files into ./dumpmeister_output/ . Key flags: | Flag | Purpose | |------|---------| | --offset | Extract from specific physical offset | | --pid | Extract files mapped into a specific process | | --name | Filter by filename (supports regex) | | --outdir | Output directory |
4. Recovering a ZIP file from a memory dump Step 1: Scan for ZIP signatures ZIP files start with PK\x03\x04 (hex: 50 4B 03 04 ). Search across memory: rekall -f memory.dmp dumpmeister --name ".*\.zip" --pid <pid> Here’s a quick guide for dumpmeister (a memory
Or use bulk_extractor to carve by signature, then feed to dumpmeister. Step 2: Extract by process (likely where ZIP was accessed) rekall -f memory.dmp dumpmeister --pid 1234 --outdir ./extracted/
Then check for any *.zip files in ./extracted/ . Step 3: Extract by filename (if known) rekall -f memory.dmp dumpmeister --name "secret.zip"
Step 4: If dump is compressed (ZIP) itself Sometimes the memory dump file is stored as a ZIP (for transport). Then you must unzip first : unzip memory.zip rekall -f memory.raw dumpmeister dumpmeister is a Rekall plugin used to extract
5. Verifying the extracted ZIP After extraction, test the ZIP: unzip -t extracted/secret.zip
If corrupt, try carving fragments with foremost or scalpel on the original memory dump first.