SSCP Incident Response and Recovery Practice Question
An incident responder is tasked with collecting forensic evidence from a compromised Linux server. Which command would the responder use to capture the contents of volatile memory (RAM) for analysis?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume `dd if=/dev/mem` is a valid method for full RAM capture on Linux, but modern kernels restrict access to `/dev/mem` to only the first megabyte, making it useless for forensic memory acquisition. Tools like LiME or fmem are required for proper memory dumping.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
lime-forensics --dump /tmp/mem.lime
LiME (Linux Memory Extractor) is specifically designed to capture volatile memory from Linux systems with minimal footprint, outputting a raw memory dump that can be analyzed with tools like Volatility. The `--dump` flag directs the acquisition to a specified file, ensuring the capture is forensically sound by avoiding writes to the compromised filesystem where possible.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
lime-forensics --dump /tmp/mem.lime
Why this is correct
LiME is the correct tool for Linux memory acquisition, outputting a .lime file.
- ✗
cat /proc/kcore > /tmp/mem.dump
Why it's wrong here
catting /proc/kcore can capture memory but is not recommended for forensics because it does not produce a clean dump and may cause system instability.
- ✗
memdump -o /tmp/mem.dump
Why it's wrong here
memdump is not a standard Linux memory acquisition tool; it may exist on some systems but is not as widely recognized as LiME.
- ✗
dd if=/dev/mem of=/tmp/mem.dump bs=1M
Why it's wrong here
/dev/mem provides access to physical memory but may be restricted; dd can be used but LiME is designed for forensic acquisition and is more reliable.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SSCP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SSCP exam.