Digital Forensic Certification Practice Exam

Which section in a portable executable format contains the import and export information used by the program?

1. .text

2. .data

3. .rdata

4. .rsrc

The correct answer is: .rdata

The section in a portable executable (PE) format that contains import and export information is the .rdata section. This section is utilized for storing read-only data, such as constant values, and contains information specific to the imports and exports of functions and data utilized by the executable. The import table in the .rdata section details the external functions that the program requires from dynamic link libraries (DLLs), allowing the program to call upon these external resources. The export table provides similar information from the perspective of a DLL, delineating what functions or data the DLL offers to be accessed by other programs. By centralizing this information in the .rdata section, the PE format facilitates the proper linking of libraries at runtime, ensuring that the executable functions as intended by properly resolving dependencies on external code. Other sections like .text, .data, and .rsrc serve different purposes. The .text section contains the executable code, the .data section typically holds initialized global and static variables, and the .rsrc section is used for resources like icons and dialogs. Therefore, they do not provide the specific import and export information related to the program’s dependencies that the .rdata section contains.