Detecting Rootkit Activity

# Volatility: Compare process enumeration methods
# pslist - walks ActiveProcessLinks (EPROCESS linked list - what rootkits manipulate)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.pslist > pslist_output.txt

# psscan - scans physical memory for EPROCESS pool tags (rootkit-resistant)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.psscan > psscan_output.txt

# Compare outputs to find hidden processes
python3 << 'PYEOF'
pslist_pids = set()
psscan_pids = set()

with open("pslist_output.txt") as f:
    for line in f:
        parts = line.split()
        if len(parts) > 1 and parts[1].isdigit():
            pslist_pids.add(int(parts[1]))

with open("psscan_output.txt") as f:
    for line in f:
        parts = line.split()
        if len(parts) > 1 and parts[1].isdigit():
            psscan_pids.add(int(parts[1]))

hidden = psscan_pids - pslist_pids
if hidden:
    print(f"[!] HIDDEN PROCESSES DETECTED (in psscan but not pslist):")
    for pid in hidden:
        print(f"    PID: {pid}")
else:
    print("[*] No hidden processes detected via cross-view analysis")
PYEOF

# Check SSDT for hooked system calls
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.ssdt

# Identify hooks pointing outside ntoskrnl.exe or win32k.sys
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.ssdt | grep -v "ntoskrnl\|win32k"

# Check for Inline hooks (detour patching)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.apihooks --pid 4  # System process

# IDT (Interrupt Descriptor Table) analysis
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.idt

# Check for IRP (I/O Request Packet) hooking on drivers
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.driverscan
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.driverirp

Types of Rootkit Hooks:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
SSDT Hook:         Modifies System Service Descriptor Table entries to redirect
                   system calls through rootkit code (filters process/file listings)

IAT Hook:          Patches Import Address Table of a process to intercept API calls
                   before they reach the kernel

Inline Hook:       Overwrites the first bytes of a function with a JMP to rootkit code
                   (detour/trampoline technique)

IRP Hook:          Intercepts I/O Request Packets to filter disk/network operations
                   at the driver level

DKOM:              Direct Kernel Object Manipulation - unlinking structures like
                   EPROCESS from the ActiveProcessLinks list without hooking

# List all loaded kernel modules
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.modules

# Scan for drivers in memory (including hidden/unlinked)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.driverscan

# Compare module lists to find hidden drivers
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.modscan > modscan.txt
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.modules > modules.txt

# Check driver signatures and verify against known-good baselines
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.verinfo

# Dump suspicious driver for static analysis
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.moddump --base 0xFFFFF80012340000 --dump

# Linux rootkit detection with rkhunter
rkhunter --check --skip-keypress --report-warnings-only

# chkrootkit scanning
chkrootkit -q

# Windows: Compare filesystem views
# Live system file listing vs Volatility filescan
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.filescan > mem_files.txt

# Check for hidden registry keys
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.registry.hivelist
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.registry.printkey --key "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services"

# Look for hidden services (loaded but not in service registry)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.svcscan | grep -i "kernel"

# Memory-based network connection enumeration
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.netscan

# Compare with live netstat (if available) to find hidden connections
# Hidden connections: present in memory but not shown by netstat

# Look for raw sockets (often used by rootkits for covert communication)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.netscan | grep RAW

# Check for network filter drivers (NDIS hooks)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.driverscan | grep -i "ndis\|tcpip\|afd"

# Analyze callback routines registered by drivers
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.callbacks

# Check kernel code integrity (compare in-memory kernel to on-disk copy)
vol3 -f memory.dmp windows.moddump --base 0xFFFFF80070000000 --dump
# Compare SHA-256 of dumped ntoskrnl.exe with known-good copy

# Windows: System File Checker (on live system)
sfc /scannow

# Linux: Package integrity verification
rpm -Va  # RPM-based systems
debsums -c  # Debian-based systems

# Compare critical system binaries
find /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin -type f -exec sha256sum {} \; > current_hashes.txt
# Compare against baseline: diff baseline_hashes.txt current_hashes.txt

# YARA scan for known rootkit signatures
vol3 -f memory.dmp yarascan.YaraScan --yara-file rootkit_rules.yar