Welcome to this CHFI practice scenario. Here, you will refine your Windows memory forensic skills by analyzing hibernation artifacts. Master this to uncover volatile data that persists across reboots.

CHFI (312-49) Digital Forensics Simulation

Investigation Scenario

A corporate workstation (Windows 10) was seized during an investigation into intellectual property theft. The suspect abruptly closed the laptop lid when approached by investigators. The laptop battery subsequently died before a live memory acquisition could be performed. The investigator has created a physical image of the drive and needs to recover volatile data (such as passwords, unencrypted documents, and network connections) that existed just before the laptop powered down.

Evidence Collected

Question

During a forensic examination of a Windows workstation, an analyst discovers a file named "hiberfil.sys" in the root of the C: drive. What type of information can typically be recovered from this file?
Hint: Think about what the Windows operating system must do to successfully resume a user's session exactly where they left off when a laptop lid is closed or the battery reaches a critical level. Where does it save the current working state?

Expert Analysis

  1. What evidence shows

    The presence of a large hiberfil.sys file in the root directory (C:\) indicates the system was configured to allow hibernation, and a compressed snapshot of the machine's state has been saved to disk.

  2. Identify forensic stage

    Examination & Analysis (Memory forensics / Artifact extraction).

  3. Why correct answer is correct (A)

    The hiberfil.sys file is created by the Windows OS when it enters hibernation mode. It stores a compressed copy of the system's volatile memory (RAM), allowing the OS to resume exactly where it left off. From a forensic standpoint, it can contain invaluable volatile data, such as decrypted passwords, open network connections, and unencrypted file fragments.

  4. Why others are wrong

    B (Registry backup): Registry backups are typically stored in C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\ or within Volume Shadow Copies, not in the hibernation file.
    C (Browsing history): Web history is found in user profile databases (e.g., AppData SQLite databases like WebData or History), though fragments *might* be caught in RAM, it is not the primary purpose of the file.
    D (Installed applications): Installed applications are cataloged in the Windows Registry (e.g., SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall).

  5. Real-world forensic action

    Investigators extract the hiberfil.sys file from the forensic image using tools like FTK Imager. Because the file is compressed, it must be decompressed or converted into a raw memory dump using tools like Volatility (e.g., using the imagecopy profile) or Bulk Extractor, which can then parse the file for memory-resident artifacts.

  6. MINI LESSON: Windows Memory Artifacts

    • hiberfil.sys: Hibernation state; contains a compressed snapshot of RAM.
    • pagefile.sys: Virtual memory paging file; contains memory blocks temporarily written to disk when physical RAM is full.
    • swapfile.sys: Used specifically for suspending Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps.

Ready for the next investigation?

Explore more CHFI simulations and refine your forensic examination skills.

Explore more CHFI simulations