An Anatomy of Windows Executable File (EXE) and Linux Executable and Linkable Format File (ELF) Formats for Digital Forensic Analysis and Anti-Virus Design Purposes

Abstract: The era of forensic analysis and anti-virus design requires a clear anatomy of Windows Executable File (EXE) and Linux Executable Linkable Format File (ELF) Formats, especially for beginners to these fields; thus, this research comes out. First, this research identifies data structures for both files formats, namely EXE and ELF files formats. After that, it classifies them according to headers, sections, and resources based on specific features and functionalities. Finally, this research proposes analysis guidelines for EXE and ELF files formats forensic analysis and anti-virus design purposes.

Keywords: Anatomy of EXE format file, anatomy of ELF format file, anti-virus design, digital forensic analysis.