Volatility Framework: bitlocker
This plugin finds and extracts Full Volume Encryption Key (FVEK) from memory dumps and/or hibernation files. This allows rapid unlocking of systems that had BitLocker encrypted volumes mounted at the time of acquisition.
Supported memory images:
- Windows 10 (work in progress)
- Windows 8.1
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows 8
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows 7
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows Vista
Example case - Windows 7 SP1 x64
Evidence: Raw HDD image
1) Determine partition layout and identify BitLocker volume
elceef@cerebellum:~$ fdisk -l john_win7_x64.dd
Disk john_win7_x64.dd: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x51c47769
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
john_win7_x64.dd1 * 2048 1050623 1048576 512M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
john_win7_x64.dd2 1050624 316475391 315424768 150.4G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
john_win7_x64.dd3 316475392 625137663 308662272 147.2G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
The last one starting from sector 316475392 is BitLocker protected. It can be verified by lookig at the filesystem header. Volumes encrypted with BitLocker will have a different signature than the standard NTFS header. A BitLocker encrypted volume starts with the "-FVE-FS-" signature.
elceef@cerebellum:~$ hexdump -C -s $((512*316475392)) -n 16 john_win7_x64.dd
25ba100000 eb 58 90 2d 46 56 45 2d 46 53 2d 00 02 08 00 00 |.X.-FVE-FS-.....|
2) Locate and convert hibernation file
Mount the system volume starting from sector 1050624 in read-only mode.
elceef@cerebellum:~$ sudo mount -o loop,ro,offset=$((512*1050624)) john_win7_x64.dd /mnt/1
Convert hibernation file hiberfil.sys for further forensic analysis.
elceef@cerebellum:~$ vol -f /mnt/1/hiberfil.sys --profile Win7SP1x64 imagecopy -O hiberfil.raw
3) Use the bitlocker plugin to extract FVEK
The plugin scans the memory image for BitLocker cryptographic allocations (memory pools) and extracts AES keys (FVEK).
elceef@cerebellum:~$ vol -f hiberfil.raw --profile Win7SP1x64 bitlocker
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.5
Address : 0xfa8009958c10
Cipher : AES-256
FVEK : d5b6e71adb0c2e2d38dafdcedade8fc11e8be631b9fed5b2ba5b51ba32a57cd1
TWEAK : 49f9ecd5ddffcae44cde7f7a578b9a3ca5e79087826779e147de89423ebdf3f3
4) Decrypt and access the volume
Decrypt the volume on-the-fly using previously extracted FVEK.
elceef@cerebellum:~$ sudo bdemount -k d5b6e71adb0c2e2d38dafdcedade8fc11e8be631b9fed5b2ba5b51ba32a57cd1:49f9ecd5ddffcae44cde7f7a578b9a3ca5e79087826779e147de89423ebdf3f3 -o $((512*316475392)) john_win7_x64.dd /crypt/1
Finally mount and access the filesystem.
elceef@cerebellum:~$ sudo mount -o loop,ro /crypt/1/bde1 /mnt/2
elceef@cerebellum:~$ ls /mnt/2
CONFIDENTIAL
Example case - Windows 8.1 x86
Evidence: Raw memory image
Windows 8 and newer versions use Cryptography API: Next Generation (CNG) which creates a lot of dynamically allocated memory pools. For this reason, the keys are often located in several places in the memory.
elceef@cerebellum:~$ vol -f john_win81_x86.raw --profile Win81U1x86 bitlocker
Volatility Foundation Volatility Framework 2.5
Address : 0x872db068
Cipher : AES-128
FVEK : 48286dcd34d3ff215d705d68c5df4f08
Address : 0x9ef55b08
Cipher : AES-128
FVEK : 48286dcd34d3ff215d705d68c5df4f08
Address : 0xa4748b08
Cipher : AES-128
FVEK : 48286dcd34d3ff215d705d68c5df4f08
Contact
To send questions, comments or a chocolate, just drop an e-mail at [email protected]
You can also reach me via:
- Twitter: @elceef
- LinkedIn: Marcin Ulikowski