A forensic analyst needs to examine the contents of a memory dump to investigate running processes, open sockets, and other volatile data. Which of the following tools is best suited for this analysis?

Volatility is specifically designed for analyzing memory dumps and extracting relevant insights from volatile memory. It provides a suite of commands for investigating various aspects of memory, such as running processes, open network sockets, and other critical data that may give insights during a forensic investigation.

The tool operates by using different plugins that allow analysts to extract detailed information about the state of the system at the time the memory was captured. This capability to parse memory structures like processes, memory maps, and network connections makes it a valuable resource for forensic analysts dealing with forensic memory analysis.

In contrast, the other tools mentioned serve different purposes. Statically linked libraries are collections of routines used for building applications, not for forensic analysis. Nmap is a network scanning tool primarily used to discover hosts and services on a network and doesn't deal directly with memory dumps. Exiftool is primarily used for reading and writing metadata from files, such as images, and is not appropriate for analyzing memory structure. Therefore, Volatility stands out as the most suitable tool for the forensic task described in the scenario.