Heap Spray Analysis
Hunts for heap spray exploit traces in memory dumps using Volatility3 plugins.
- Repository
- mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills
- Stars
- 35,430
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Files
- 3 files
What it does
This skill teaches an AI agent how to examine a computer's memory dump to spot heap spraying, a technique attackers use to fill a program's memory with malicious code so an exploit can reliably jump into it. The agent follows a set procedure: find processes with suspicious executable memory regions, look for large allocations with read-write-execute permissions, scan for NOP sled byte patterns, and extract candidate shellcode for hashing and review. The included script automates parts of this by running Volatility3 and writing a JSON report.
Great for
- Incident responders and SOC analysts reviewing memory captures from suspected exploit activity
- Students learning memory forensics and how heap spray artifacts look in a dump
- Security teams building threat hunting or detection procedures around memory-based exploits
Skip it if
- Live systems or general malware removal, since it only works on existing memory dump files and does not contain remediation steps (the reason: its scope is detection and analysis of dumps)
- Use against systems you are not authorized to investigate, since the script itself is labelled for authorized forensic analysis only
Try asking
- “Analyze this memory dump for signs of heap spraying and list suspicious processes”
- “Scan the process memory in this .vmem file for NOP sled patterns and large RWX allocations”
- “Extract candidate shellcode regions from this dump and give me their hashes in a JSON report”
Install in 3 steps
- 1
Download the skill
The ZIP contains the 3 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.
analyzing-heap-spray-exploitation.zip - 2
Add it to your agent
Claude Code (all projects)
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip analyzing-heap-spray-exploitation.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)
mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip analyzing-heap-spray-exploitation.zip -d .claude/skills/Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.
- 3
Ask for the task
No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.
Get better results
- Run the analysis on a copy of the memory dump so the original evidence is preserved.
- Review flagged NOP sled and shellcode hits manually, since byte-pattern matches can produce false positives.
- Confirm Volatility3 is installed and on the PATH before asking the agent to run the script.
What's inside
- references/api-reference.md
- scripts/agent.py
- SKILL.md
Redistributed unmodified from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills under the Apache-2.0 licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.