A forensics analyst needs to extract and analyze metadata from various image and document files as part of an ongoing investigation. Which tool should the analyst use to read and write file metadata?

Exiftool is the most suitable tool for a forensics analyst aiming to extract and analyze metadata from image and document files. It is a versatile, Perl-based command-line application that specializes in reading, writing, and manipulating metadata in a wide variety of file formats, which is crucial in digital forensics investigations. Given its support for numerous file types, including those commonly used in images (like JPEG, TIFF, PNG) and document files (such as PDF, DOC, and others), Exiftool allows analysts to retrieve important information, such as the creation date, modification date, camera settings for images, and other pertinent details embedded within files.

This capability is essential in forensic investigations where metadata can provide insight into the timeline of events, ownership, and handling of files, which can be critical in building a case or understanding the context around an incident.

In contrast, other tools listed serve different functions; for instance, a statically linked library is just a collection of precompiled functions used in programming, while Nmap is primarily a network scanning utility that discovers hosts and services on a network, and Volatility is a framework for memory analysis that focuses on extracting information from volatile memory (RAM) rather than file metadata.