---
name: performing-file-carving-with-foremost
description: Recovers files from disk images and unallocated space using Foremost's
  header-footer signature carving, extracting evidence independent of the file system's
  state. Use during digital forensics investigations to carve deleted or fragmented
  files, such as documents, images, and archives, from raw disk images or unallocated
  space.
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: digital-forensics
tags:
- forensics
- file-carving
- foremost
- data-recovery
- evidence-recovery
- unallocated-space
version: '1.0'
author: mahipal
license: Apache-2.0
nist_csf:
- RS.AN-03
- DE.AE-02
- RS.MA-01
mitre_attack:
- T1005
- T1074
- T1119
- T1070
- T1059
---

# Performing File Carving with Foremost

## When to Use
- When recovering files from unallocated disk space or corrupted file systems
- For extracting evidence from formatted or wiped storage media
- When file system metadata is unavailable but raw data sectors contain evidence
- During investigations requiring recovery of specific file types from raw images
- As a complement to file system-based recovery for maximum evidence extraction

## Prerequisites
- Foremost installed on forensic workstation
- Forensic disk image in raw (dd) format
- Sufficient output storage (potentially larger than source)
- Custom foremost.conf for specialized file types (optional)
- Understanding of file signatures (magic bytes) for target file types
- Scalpel as an alternative for performance-critical carving

## Workflow

### Step 1: Install and Configure Foremost

```bash
# Install Foremost
sudo apt-get install foremost

# Verify installation
foremost -V

# Review default configuration
cat /etc/foremost.conf

# The default foremost.conf supports:
# jpg, gif, png, bmp - Image formats
# avi, exe, mpg, wav - Media and executables
# riff, wmv, mov, pdf - Documents and video
# ole (doc/xls/ppt), zip, rar - Office and archives
# htm, cpp, java - Text/code files

# Create custom configuration for additional file types
cp /etc/foremost.conf /cases/case-2024-001/custom_foremost.conf

# Add custom file signatures
cat << 'EOF' >> /cases/case-2024-001/custom_foremost.conf
# Custom additions for investigation
# Format: extension  case_sensitive  max_size  header  footer
    docx    y    10000000    \x50\x4b\x03\x04    \x50\x4b\x05\x06
    xlsx    y    10000000    \x50\x4b\x03\x04    \x50\x4b\x05\x06
    pptx    y    10000000    \x50\x4b\x03\x04    \x50\x4b\x05\x06
    sqlite  y    50000000    \x53\x51\x4c\x69\x74\x65\x20\x66\x6f\x72\x6d\x61\x74
    pst     y    500000000   \x21\x42\x44\x4e
    eml     y    1000000     \x46\x72\x6f\x6d\x3a    \x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a
    evtx    y    50000000    \x45\x6c\x66\x46\x69\x6c\x65
EOF
```

### Step 2: Run Foremost Against the Disk Image

```bash
# Basic carving of all supported file types
foremost -t all \
   -i /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd \
   -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/

# Carve only specific file types
foremost -t jpg,png,pdf,doc,xls,zip \
   -i /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd \
   -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_targeted/

# Use custom configuration
foremost -c /cases/case-2024-001/custom_foremost.conf \
   -i /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd \
   -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_custom/

# Carve from a specific partition offset
# First, find partitions
mmls /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd
# Then carve from unallocated space only
# Extract unallocated space with blkls
blkls -o 2048 /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd \
   > /cases/case-2024-001/unallocated.dd

foremost -t all \
   -i /cases/case-2024-001/unallocated.dd \
   -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_unalloc/

# Verbose mode for detailed progress
foremost -v -t all \
   -i /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd \
   -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_verbose/ 2>&1 | \
   tee /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_log.txt

# Indirect mode (process standard input)
dd if=/cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd bs=512 skip=2048 | \
   foremost -t jpg,pdf -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_pipe/
```

### Step 3: Use Scalpel for High-Performance Carving

```bash
# Install Scalpel (faster alternative based on Foremost)
sudo apt-get install scalpel

# Edit Scalpel configuration (uncomment desired file types)
cp /etc/scalpel/scalpel.conf /cases/case-2024-001/scalpel.conf
# Uncomment lines for target file types in the config

# Run Scalpel
scalpel -c /cases/case-2024-001/scalpel.conf \
   -o /cases/case-2024-001/carved/scalpel/ \
   /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd

# Scalpel with file size limits
# Edit scalpel.conf to set appropriate max sizes:
# jpg  y  5000000  \xff\xd8\xff  \xff\xd9
# pdf  y  20000000 %PDF  %%EOF
```

### Step 4: Process and Validate Carved Files

```bash
# Review Foremost audit report
cat /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/audit.txt

# The audit.txt contains:
# - Number of files found per type
# - Start and end offsets
# - File sizes

# Validate carved files
python3 << 'PYEOF'
import os
import subprocess
from collections import defaultdict

carved_dir = '/cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/'
stats = defaultdict(lambda: {'total': 0, 'valid': 0, 'invalid': 0, 'size': 0})

for subdir in os.listdir(carved_dir):
    subdir_path = os.path.join(carved_dir, subdir)
    if not os.path.isdir(subdir_path) or subdir == 'audit.txt':
        continue

    for filename in os.listdir(subdir_path):
        filepath = os.path.join(subdir_path, filename)
        if not os.path.isfile(filepath):
            continue

        ext = subdir
        filesize = os.path.getsize(filepath)
        stats[ext]['total'] += 1
        stats[ext]['size'] += filesize

        # Validate file using 'file' command
        result = subprocess.run(['file', '--brief', filepath], capture_output=True, text=True)
        file_type = result.stdout.strip()

        if 'data' in file_type.lower() or 'empty' in file_type.lower():
            stats[ext]['invalid'] += 1
        else:
            stats[ext]['valid'] += 1

print("=== CARVED FILE VALIDATION ===\n")
print(f"{'Type':<10} {'Total':<8} {'Valid':<8} {'Invalid':<10} {'Total Size':<15}")
print("-" * 55)
for ext in sorted(stats.keys()):
    s = stats[ext]
    size_mb = s['size'] / (1024*1024)
    print(f"{ext:<10} {s['total']:<8} {s['valid']:<8} {s['invalid']:<10} {size_mb:>10.1f} MB")

# Remove zero-byte files
for subdir in os.listdir(carved_dir):
    subdir_path = os.path.join(carved_dir, subdir)
    if os.path.isdir(subdir_path):
        for filename in os.listdir(subdir_path):
            filepath = os.path.join(subdir_path, filename)
            if os.path.isfile(filepath) and os.path.getsize(filepath) == 0:
                os.remove(filepath)
PYEOF

# Hash all valid carved files
find /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/ -type f ! -name "audit.txt" \
   -exec sha256sum {} \; > /cases/case-2024-001/carved/carved_file_hashes.txt

# Check against known-bad hash database
# Check against NSRL known-good database to filter
```

### Step 5: Examine and Catalog Evidence Files

```bash
# Extract metadata from carved images (EXIF data including GPS)
exiftool -r -csv /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/jpg/ \
   > /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/carved_image_metadata.csv

# Search carved documents for keywords
find /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/pdf/ -name "*.pdf" -exec pdftotext {} - \; 2>/dev/null | \
   grep -iE '(confidential|secret|password|account|ssn|credit.card)' \
   > /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/keyword_hits_pdf.txt

# Generate thumbnails for image review
mkdir -p /cases/case-2024-001/carved/thumbnails/
find /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/jpg/ -name "*.jpg" -exec \
   convert {} -thumbnail 200x200 /cases/case-2024-001/carved/thumbnails/{} \; 2>/dev/null

# Create evidence catalog
python3 << 'PYEOF'
import os, hashlib, csv, subprocess

catalog = []
carved_dir = '/cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/'

for subdir in sorted(os.listdir(carved_dir)):
    subdir_path = os.path.join(carved_dir, subdir)
    if not os.path.isdir(subdir_path):
        continue
    for filename in sorted(os.listdir(subdir_path)):
        filepath = os.path.join(subdir_path, filename)
        if not os.path.isfile(filepath):
            continue
        size = os.path.getsize(filepath)
        sha256 = hashlib.sha256(open(filepath, 'rb').read()).hexdigest()
        file_type = subprocess.run(['file', '--brief', filepath], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout.strip()

        catalog.append({
            'filename': filename,
            'type': subdir,
            'size': size,
            'sha256': sha256,
            'file_description': file_type[:100]
        })

with open('/cases/case-2024-001/analysis/carved_file_catalog.csv', 'w', newline='') as f:
    writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=['filename', 'type', 'size', 'sha256', 'file_description'])
    writer.writeheader()
    writer.writerows(catalog)

print(f"Catalog created with {len(catalog)} files")
PYEOF
```

## Key Concepts

| Concept | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| File carving | Recovering files by searching for known header/footer byte sequences in raw data |
| File signature | Unique byte pattern at the start (header) or end (footer) identifying a file type |
| Unallocated space | Disk sectors not assigned to any file; primary target for carving |
| Fragmentation | When file data is stored in non-contiguous sectors, complicating carving |
| Header-footer carving | Extracting data between known file start and end signatures |
| False positives | Carved data matching file signatures but containing corrupt or unrelated content |
| Slack space | Unused bytes at the end of a file's last allocated cluster |
| Sector alignment | Files typically start at sector boundaries, improving carving accuracy |

## Tools & Systems

| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| Foremost | Original header-footer file carving tool developed for US Air Force OSI |
| Scalpel | High-performance file carver with configurable signatures |
| PhotoRec | Signature-based file recovery supporting 300+ formats |
| bulk_extractor | Extracts features (emails, URLs, credit cards) from raw data |
| blkls | Sleuth Kit tool extracting unallocated space from disk images |
| mmls | Partition table display for identifying carving targets |
| ExifTool | Metadata extraction from carved image and document files |
| hashdeep | Recursive hash computation for carved file cataloging |

## Common Scenarios

**Scenario 1: Recovering Deleted Evidence Documents**
Run Foremost targeting doc, pdf, xlsx formats against the unallocated space extracted with blkls, validate carved documents, search content for case-relevant keywords, catalog and hash all recoverable documents, present as evidence.

**Scenario 2: Image Recovery from Formatted Media**
Carve JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP from a formatted USB drive image, extract EXIF metadata including GPS coordinates and camera information, generate thumbnails for rapid visual review, identify evidence-relevant images, document recovery chain.

**Scenario 3: Email Recovery from Damaged PST**
Use custom foremost.conf with PST and EML signatures, carve email artifacts from damaged Outlook data file, attempt to open carved PST fragments in a viewer, extract individual EML messages, search for relevant communications.

**Scenario 4: Database Recovery for Financial Investigation**
Configure Foremost to carve SQLite databases from unallocated space, recover application databases that were deleted, query recovered databases for financial records, cross-reference with known transaction data, document findings for prosecution.

## Output Format

```
File Carving Summary:
  Tool: Foremost 1.5.7
  Source: evidence.dd (500 GB)
  Target: Unallocated space (234 GB)
  Duration: 1h 45m

  Files Carved:
    jpg:    2,345 files (1.8 GB) - Valid: 2,100 / Invalid: 245
    png:      234 files (456 MB) - Valid: 210 / Invalid: 24
    pdf:      156 files (890 MB) - Valid: 134 / Invalid: 22
    doc:       89 files (234 MB) - Valid: 67 / Invalid: 22
    xls:       45 files (123 MB) - Valid: 38 / Invalid: 7
    zip:       67 files (567 MB) - Valid: 52 / Invalid: 15
    exe:       34 files (234 MB) - Valid: 30 / Invalid: 4
    sqlite:    12 files (89 MB)  - Valid: 10 / Invalid: 2

  Total Files: 2,982 (3.4 GB recovered)
  Evidence-Relevant: 45 files flagged for review
  Audit Log: /cases/case-2024-001/carved/foremost_all/audit.txt
  File Catalog: /cases/case-2024-001/analysis/carved_file_catalog.csv
```
