List of the best forensics tools to solve CTF challenges and Digital Forensics
This list is part of our CTF Tools collection, where we curate essential tools for each category of hacking/pentesting and CTF challenges. It took us significant time and effort to create this collection, so If you find our content helpful, consider following us on Linkedin or Twitter, or share your suggestions to help us improve!
⭐ Means the best tools in its section.
Specialized Tools
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) ⭐
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) is an open-source digital forensics platform used for investigating hard drives, smartphones, and other media. It provides a user-friendly GUI for Sleuth Kit’s powerful command-line forensic tools.
Download Size: Approx. 200 MB
Key Features:
- File system analysis (recover deleted files)
- Timeline analysis for tracking file modifications
- Keyword search and indexing
- Email and web activity analysis
- Extensible with modules (e.g., for memory forensics)
Volatility 3
Volatility is the world’s most widely used framework for extracting digital artifacts from volatile memory (RAM) samples. (analyzing memory dumps)
Download Size: Approx. 30 MB
Key Features:
- Memory Analysis: Extracts information from RAM to investigate running processes, network connections, and more.
- Cross-Platform: Supports memory dumps from Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.
- Extensive Plugin Library: Offers a wide range of plugins for various forensic tasks.
- Community Support: Strong community and frequent updates.
Cyberchef (Online)
CyberChef is a web-based tool designed for performing a wide range of data processing operations, often used in cybersecurity, forensics, and encryption.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Supports encryption, encoding, decoding, and data analysis
- Over 300 operations like hash functions, data conversion, and compression
- User-friendly drag-and-drop interface
- Handles large data sets efficiently
- Open-source and browser-based (no installation required)
Foremost
Foremost is a forensics tool used to recover files based on their headers, footers, and internal data structures.
Download Size: Approx. 150 KB
Key Features:
- File Carving: Recovers deleted files from disk images.
- Format Support: Works with multiple file types (e.g., JPG, GIF, PDF, DOC).
- Command-Line Interface: Simple and efficient usage.
- Customizable: Users can define their own file types for recovery.
Memory Forensics
Volatility 3 ⭐
Volatility is the world’s most widely used framework for extracting digital artifacts from volatile memory (RAM) samples. (analyzing memory dumps)
Download Size: Approx. 30 MB
Key Features:
- Memory Analysis: Extracts information from RAM to investigate running processes, network connections, and more.
- Cross-Platform: Supports memory dumps from Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.
- Extensive Plugin Library: Offers a wide range of plugins for various forensic tasks.
- Community Support: Strong community and frequent updates.
Malfind
Malfind is a plugin for memory forensics tools like Volatility that detects hidden or injected malicious code in memory.
Download Size: Part of volatility
Key Features:
- Malware Detection: Identifies hidden or injected processes in memory.
- Code Analysis: Highlights suspicious memory regions, including injected DLLs or shellcode.
- Cross-Platform: Works on memory dumps from various operating systems.
- Detailed Reporting: Provides information on suspicious memory activities.
Bulk Extractor
Bulk Extractor is a high-performance digital forensics exploitation tool. It is a “get evidence” button that rapidly scans any kind of input (disk images, files, directories of files, etc) and extracts structured information such as email addresses, credit card numbers, JPEGs and JSON snippets without parsing the file system or file system structures.
Download Size: Approx. 10 MB
Key Features:
- Data Extraction: Recovers email addresses, credit card numbers, URLs, and other artifacts.
- Parallel Processing: Fast processing by utilizing multiple CPU cores.
- Format Agnostic: Works without requiring the file system or partition table.
- Output Reports: Generates easy-to-analyze text reports.
Miscellaneous Tools
Strings
The strings command in Linux is used to extract printable strings from binary files. It’s commonly used in reverse engineering and forensics to find human-readable text within executables or other binary data.
Key Features:
- Extracts ASCII and Unicode strings from binary files.
- Supports various encodings including UTF-8 and UTF-16.
- Can limit the minimum string length to filter out short or irrelevant strings.
- Option to search in specific memory ranges of files.
- Works with multiple file formats, including executables, object files, and core dumps.
Binwalk
Binwalk is a tool for analyzing and extracting data from binary files, often used in reverse engineering and forensics.
Download Size: Approx. 5 – 10 MB
Key Features:
- Firmware Analysis: Identifies embedded files and code within firmware images.
- Entropy Analysis: Detects compressed or encrypted data.
- Signature Scanning: Searches for known file signatures.
- Recursive Extraction: Automatically extracts nested files.
- Custom Plugin Support: Extend functionality with custom plugins.
Process and DLL Analysis
Process Hacker
Process Hacker is a free, open-source task manager and system monitoring tool for Windows. It provides detailed information about running processes and services.
Download Size: Approx. 3-10 MB
Key Features:
- View and manage processes, services, and network connections.
- Powerful process termination and suspension.
- Detailed CPU, memory, and disk usage monitoring.
- Search for handles and DLLs.
- Debugging capabilities for developers.
Process Explorer
Process Explorer is a powerful task manager and system monitoring tool developed by Microsoft, offering more detailed insights than the default Windows Task Manager.
Download Size: Approx. 1-10 MB
Key Features:
- View hierarchical process trees.
- Detailed information on handles and DLLs for each process.
- Monitor CPU, memory, and GPU usage.
- Replace Windows Task Manager for advanced control.
- Find out which process is using a specific file or directory.
Disk Imaging Tools
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) ⭐
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) is an open-source digital forensics platform used for investigating hard drives, smartphones, and other media. It provides a user-friendly GUI for Sleuth Kit’s powerful command-line forensic tools.
Download Size: Approx. 200 MB
Key Features:
- File system analysis (recover deleted files)
- Timeline analysis for tracking file modifications
- Keyword search and indexing
- Email and web activity analysis
- Extensible with modules (e.g., for memory forensics)
FTK Imager
FTK Imager is a digital forensics tool used to capture and analyze disk images, ensuring data integrity. It allows investigators to create exact copies of evidence without altering the original.
Download Size: Approx. 80 MB
Key Features:
- View hierarchical process trees.
- Detailed information on handles and DLLs for each process.
- Monitor CPU, memory, and GPU usage.
- Replace Windows Task Manager for advanced control.
- Find out which process is using a specific file or directory.
Guymager
Guymager is an open-source forensic imaging tool for Linux, designed to create disk images efficiently while maintaining data integrity.
Download Size: Approx. 3 MB
Key Features:
- Supports image formats like E01, DD, and AFF
- Fast and reliable imaging process
- Real-time display of imaging progress and speed
- Automated checksum generation (MD5, SHA256)
- Simple GUI for ease of use
Disk Analysis Tools
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) ⭐
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) is an open-source digital forensics platform used for investigating hard drives, smartphones, and other media. It provides a user-friendly GUI for Sleuth Kit’s powerful command-line forensic tools.
Download Size: Approx. 200 MB
Key Features:
- File system analysis (recover deleted files)
- Timeline analysis for tracking file modifications
- Keyword search and indexing
- Email and web activity analysis
- Extensible with modules (e.g., for memory forensics)
The Sleuth Kit (TSK)
The Sleuth Kit is an open-source digital forensics toolkit that allows investigators to analyze disk images and recover data, primarily through a command-line interface.
Download Size: Approx. 30 MB
Key Features:
- File system analysis (NTFS, FAT, ext, etc.)
- Recover deleted files and directories
- Analyze metadata (timestamps, file structure)
- Keyword search across disk images
- Compatible with Autopsy for a graphical interface
EnCase Forensics Suite
EnCase is a popular commercial digital forensics tool used for investigating and analyzing digital evidence, widely adopted by law enforcement and corporations.
Download Size: Approx. 800 MB (Depending on version)
Key Features:
- Comprehensive forensic analysis of hard drives, mobile devices, and cloud data
- File system and registry analysis
- Recover deleted files and data
- Generate detailed reports for legal proceedings
- Supports encryption and decryption of evidence
Magnet Axiom
File Carving/Discovery Tools
Binwalk ⭐
Binwalk is a tool for analyzing and extracting data from binary files, often used in reverse engineering and forensics.
Download Size: Approx. 5 – 10 MB
Key Features:
- Firmware Analysis: Identifies embedded files and code within firmware images.
- Entropy Analysis: Detects compressed or encrypted data (ZIP, GZIP, TAR, 7z)
- Signature Scanning: Searches for known file signatures. (SquashFS, JFFS2, CramFS)
- Recursive Extraction: Automatically extracts nested files (PNG, JPEG) and media files (MP3, MP4)
- Custom Plugin Support: Extend functionality with custom plugins.
- Identifies cryptographic signatures (X.509 certificates)
- Useful for bootloaders and firmware (U-Boot, LZMA)
Scalpel
scalpel is a fast file carver that reads a database of header and footer definitions and extracts matching files from a set of image files or raw device files.
scalpel is filesystem-independent and will carve files from FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, JFS, XFS, ReiserFS, raw partitions, etc.
Download Size: Approx. 200 KB
Key Features:
- File Carving: Recovers files by searching for file headers and footers.
- Customizable: Allows specification of file types and carve parameters.
- Fast and Efficient: Designed to handle large volumes of data.
Photorec
Photorec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from hard disks (Mechanical Hard drives, Solid State Drives…), CD-ROMs, and lost pictures (thus the Photo Recovery name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the file system and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media’s file system has been severely damaged or reformatted.
Download Size: Approx. 90 KB
Key Features:
- File Recovery: Recovers lost files including images, documents, and videos.
- Support for Multiple Formats: Works with various file systems and storage devices.
- File Carving: Uses file carving techniques to recover files even if the file system is damaged.
- Cross-Platform: Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Log and Registry Analysis
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) ⭐
Autopsy (Sleuth Kit) is an open-source digital forensics platform used for investigating hard drives, smartphones, and other media. It provides a user-friendly GUI for Sleuth Kit’s powerful command-line forensic tools.
Download Size: Approx. 200 MB
Key Features:
- File system analysis (recover deleted files)
- Timeline analysis for tracking file modifications
- Keyword search and indexing
- Email and web activity analysis
- Extensible with modules (e.g., for memory forensics)
Log2timeline (Plaso)
Plaso, or super timeline all the things, is a Python-based engine used by several tools for automatic creation of timelines. Plaso default behavior is to create super timelines but it also supports creating more targeted timelines.
These timelines support digital forensic investigators/analysts, to correlate the large amount of information found in logs and other files found on an average computer.
Download Size: Approx. 200 MB (for the full plaso framework)
Key Features:
- Supports multiple file formats (e.g., Windows, Linux, and MacOS logs)
- Automatic extraction of timestamps
- Generates detailed chronological event timelines
Registry Explorer
Registry Explorer is a free, Windows-based tool used for viewing and analyzing Windows Registry hives in digital forensics.
Download Size: Approx. 25 MB
Key Features:
- User-friendly interface for navigating registry hives
- Supports bookmarks and searching within registry data
- Hex viewer for raw data inspection
- Displays deleted registry keys and values
- Exports registry data in multiple formats
Hashing and Signature Analysis
Hashcat ⭐
Hashcat is an advanced password recovery tool used for cracking hashes with optimized performance, but also used for high-performance hash verification particularly in digital forensics.
Download Size: Approx. 30 MB
Key Features:
- Supports over 300 hash algorithms (e.g., MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, bcrypt)
- GPU acceleration for high-speed cracking
- Multi-hash cracking and distributed attacks
- Mask, dictionary, brute-force, and hybrid attacks
- Open-source and cross-platform
Cyberchef (Online)
CyberChef is a web-based tool designed for performing a wide range of data processing operations, often used in cybersecurity, forensics, and encryption.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Supports encryption, encoding, decoding, and data analysis
- Over 300 operations like hash functions, data conversion, and compression
- User-friendly drag-and-drop interface
- Handles large data sets efficiently
- Open-source and browser-based (no installation required)
Hashdeep and MD5
Hashdeep is a cross-platform tool for computing and verifying cryptographic hashes of files, commonly used in digital forensics to verify file integrity.
Download Size: Approx. 2 MB
Key Features:
- Supports multiple hash algorithms (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256)
- Recursive hashing of directories
- Ability to audit hashsets for changes (added, removed, or modified files)
- Can compare known good hashes with current files
Image Forensics Tools
Apperi’solve (online) ⭐
AperiSolve is an online steganalysis platform designed to analyze images for hidden data. It performs layer-by-layer analysis on image formats such as .png, .jpg, .gif, and others, using tools like zsteg, steghide, outguess, exiftool, binwalk, and strings for deeper inspection. It helps in uncovering hidden text, files, or other data encoded in images, useful for cybersecurity tasks like CTF (Capture The Flag) challenges.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Visualizes each bit layer of the image’s channels.
- Performs automated steganography tests like LSB (Least Significant Bit) analysis.
- Supports multiple formats such as
.png,.jpg,.bmp,.tiff, etc. - Provides tools for extracting embedded data and files.
Forensically (online)
Forensically is a free, web-based image analysis tool designed for detecting potential image manipulation. It offers a range of tools such as Error Level Analysis (ELA), clone detection (to find duplicated image sections), noise analysis (for spotting alterations), and luminance gradient (for detecting inconsistencies in lighting). It also supports examining image metadata and JPEG headers.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Visualizes each bit layer of the image’s channels.
- Performs automated steganography tests like LSB (Least Significant Bit) analysis.
- Supports multiple formats such as
.png,.jpg,.bmp,.tiff, etc. - Provides tools for extracting embedded data and files.
Fotoforensics (online)
FotoForensics is a tool used for analyzing digital images to detect manipulation or alterations.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Error Level Analysis (ELA): Identifies areas of an image that may have been edited.
- Metadata Examination: Reviews EXIF data to check for camera settings and editing history.
- Clone Detection: Finds duplicate areas in an image to spot potential tampering.
- Image Forensics: Analyzes pixel-level changes to detect forgery.
Exiftool
Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command line utility to manage image metadata. It provides fast and easy read and write access to the Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata of images in various formats
Download Size: Approx. 7.1 MB
Key Features:
- Extensive Metadata Support: Handles EXIF, IPTC, XMP, and other metadata formats.
- Batch Processing: Processes multiple files at once.
- Metadata Editing: Allows detailed modification of metadata.
- File Conversion: Supports conversion between different metadata formats.
Exiv2
Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command line utility to manage image metadata. It provides fast and easy read and write access to the Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata of images in various formats
Download Size: Approx. 1 MB
Key Features:
- Metadata Viewing: Displays EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata.
- Metadata Editing: Allows modification of metadata fields.
- Batch Processing: Supports bulk metadata operations.
- Format Conversion: Converts metadata between different formats.
Jpegsnoop
JPEGsnoop is a detailed JPEG image decoder and analysis tool. It reports all image metadata and can even help identify if an image has been edited.
Download Size: Approx. 1 MB
Key Features:
- JPEG Metadata Analysis: Extracts and displays detailed metadata, including EXIF and IPTC data.
- Image Verification: Detects image manipulations and compression artifacts.
- Error Level Analysis: Provides insights into potential image alterations.
- Compression Details: Shows detailed information about JPEG compression settings.
- Thumbnail Extraction: Extracts and displays embedded thumbnails in JPEG images.
Steganography Detection and Analysis
Apperi’solve (online) ⭐
AperiSolve is an online steganalysis platform designed to analyze images for hidden data. It performs layer-by-layer analysis on image formats such as .png, .jpg, .gif, and others, using tools like zsteg, steghide, outguess, exiftool, binwalk, and strings for deeper inspection. It helps in uncovering hidden text, files, or other data encoded in images, useful for cybersecurity tasks like CTF (Capture The Flag) challenges.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Visualizes each bit layer of the image’s channels.
- Performs automated steganography tests like LSB (Least Significant Bit) analysis.
- Supports multiple formats such as
.png,.jpg,.bmp,.tiff, etc. - Provides tools for extracting embedded data and files.
Stegonline ⭐
StegOnline is a web-based steganography tool designed to analyze and embed hidden data in images, particularly useful for CTF challenges. It is an open-source port of StegSolve with enhanced features for easy online use.
Download Size: Approx. 0 MB
Key Features:
- Browse through 32-bit image planes
- Extract and embed data using LSB (Least Significant Bit) techniques
- View PNG chunk information
- Download RGBA values
- Examine color palettes
Stegseek
Stegseek is a lightning fast steghide cracker that can be used to extract hidden data from files. It is built as a fork of the original steghide project and, as a result, it is thousands of times faster than other crackers and can run through the entirety of rockyou.txt* in under 2 seconds.
Download Size: Approx. 100 KB
Key Features:
- High-Speed Cracking: Uses wordlists to recover hidden files at record speeds.
- Metadata Extraction: Can extract unencrypted data from stego images without needing a password.
- Cross-Platform: Supports Linux directly and can run on Windows through WSL.
- Steghide-Compatible: Can also embed and extract data like Steghide.
Stegsolve
StegSolve is a Java-based steganography analysis tool used to manipulate and analyze images for hidden data. It is commonly used in Capture The Flag (CTF) challenges for steganography tasks. The tool allows users to apply various color plane filters and transformations to reveal hidden content.
Download Size: Approx. 2 MB
Key Features:
- Extract hidden information from different image layers (RGB, grayscale, etc.)
- Analyze images through bit-plane slicing
- Perform XOR, AND, OR operations
- Supports color channel modifications (LSB analysis)
- Built-in histogram analysis
OpenStego
OpenStego is a free, open-source steganography tool used to hide data inside image files securely. It allows users to embed hidden messages within images while also supporting encryption and watermarking.
Download Size: Approx. 3 MB
Key Features:
- Embeds hidden data into images using LSB steganography
- Optional encryption for data protection
- Supports watermarking of images for authentication purposes
- Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Network Forensics
Wireshark ⭐
Wireshark is a widely used open-source network protocol analyzer that captures and inspects data traffic on a network in real time. It is a crucial tool for network troubleshooting, security analysis, and protocol development.
Download Size: Approx. 100 MB
Key Features:
- Packet Capture and Analysis: Captures live network traffic and displays packet data in detail.
- Protocol Support: Recognizes and analyzes hundreds of network protocols (e.g., TCP, HTTP, DNS).
- Filtering Capabilities: Allows deep packet inspection with customizable filters.
- Live Data and Offline Analysis: Analyzes both live data streams and pre-captured packet files.
- Cross-Platform: Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Tcpdump
tcpdump is a command-line packet analyzer used to capture and display network traffic in real-time. It is commonly used for network diagnostics and security testing.
Download Size: Approx. 1 MB
Key Features:
- Packet Capture: Captures network packets on the interface.
- Filtering: Apply BPF (Berkeley Packet Filters) to capture specific traffic types.
- Real-time Analysis: Displays traffic as it happens.
- Detailed Information: Provides low-level details about packets (e.g., TCP/IP headers).
- Logging: Can save captured traffic to a file for later analysis.
Networkminer
NetworkMiner is a network forensics tool used for analyzing packet captures (PCAPs) and live traffic. It helps extract information like files, images, and credentials from network traffic.
Download Size: Approx. 2 MB
Key Features:
- Packet Capture Analysis: Analyzes PCAP files or live network traffic.
- File Extraction: Automatically extracts files, images, and documents.
- OS and Device Identification: Detects the operating systems and hosts on a network.
- Credential Extraction: Identifies usernames, passwords, and other sensitive data.
- Passive Analysis: Does not send traffic, making it non-intrusive.
Honorable Mentions
- Nmap – It can be used for forensics too
Network Security Toolkit - Brim – a tool for analyzing network traffic and logs.