The ultimate steganography and digital forensics toolkit. Hide and extract data across images, audio, video, documents, and network packets, or run 11 advanced detection engines to uncover hidden payloads.
The ultimate hybrid of steganography, digital forensics, and covert communications.
StegoForge is a complex Python framework, but you shouldn't have to deal with broken environments when doing active forensics. We have compiled zero-dependency, native executables that automatically resolve their own AI and Media requirements.
Head over to the Releases Page and download the binary for your OS.
pip install required.PATH configurations.# 1. Hide a file inside an image (AES-256-GCM encrypted, auto-method)
stegoforge encode -c photo.png -p secret.pdf -k "my-pass"
# 2. Retrieve the hidden file
stegoforge decode -f photo_stego.png -k "my-pass"
# 3. CTF one-click forensic dump on any suspicious file
stegoforge ctf -f suspicious.mp3
# 4. Compare original vs stego — pixel heatmap
stegoforge diff -c photo.png -s photo_stego.png
# 5. Batch embed a secret into every carrier in a folder
stegoforge batch -d ./carriers/ -p secret.txt -k "my-pass"
# 6. Check capacity and stealth score of a carrier
stegoforge capacity -c photo.png --depth 2
# 7. Simulate Twitter recompression and test payload survives
stegoforge encode -c photo.png -p secret.txt -k "my-pass" --target twitter --test-survival
# 8. Launch the local web UI (no data ever leaves your machine)
stegoforge web
# Install tab-completion (bash)
eval "$(stegoforge completion bash)"
# Use env var to avoid key in shell history
export STEGOFORGE_KEY="my-pass"
stegoforge decode -f stego.png # key read from env
The Concept in Plain English: Steganography is the art of hiding secrets in plain sight. StegoForge takes your secret message or file and mathematically weaves it into the pixels of a normal photo, the soundwaves of a song, or the frames of a video. To the rest of the world, it just looks like a regular meme or MP3 track. To you, it's an invisible vault.
StegoForge is a modular, enterprise-grade steganography toolkit engineered for the full lifecycle of covert data: from embedding payloads into images, audio, video, and active network protocols, to deploying machine-learning steganalysis to forcibly extract anomalies from suspicious carrier files.
Built for security researchers, CTF players, and digital forensics practitioners, it doesn't try to be one thing. It executes the entire forensic spectrum seamlessly.
$ stegoforge encode --carrier cover.png --payload secret.txt --key "mypassword" --method lsb
[+] Payload encrypted with AES-256-GCM
[+] Embedded 2048 bits across RGB channels (1-bit depth)
[+] Output: cover_stego.png
[+] Statistical profile: indistinguishable from baseline (chi² = 0.021)
$ stegoforge ctf --file suspicious.mp3
[*] Running all detectors on suspicious.mp3 ...
[⏭] Chi-square LSB anomaly SKIPPED
[⏭] RS analysis SKIPPED
[!] Blind extractor found payload at: audio-lsb, depth=1, AES encrypted blob
[+] Extracted 412 bytes → saved to extracted_payload.bin
stegoforge/
├── Image Carriers PNG · JPEG · BMP · GIF · WebP
│ ├── LSB / Adaptive LSB 1–4 bit depth + WOW-style content-aware cost ordering
│ ├── DCT + JND-safe cap JPEG frequency-domain embedding + Watson-style perceptual budget
│ ├── Fingerprint LSB PRNU-aware embedding mode
│ └── Alpha / Palette Transparency and indexed-color channels
│
├── Video Carriers MP4 · WebM
│ ├── Video DCT Keyframe embedding with block-cost ranking
│ └── Video Motion Temporal+texture masked block embedding (MP4)
│
├── Audio Carriers WAV · FLAC · MP3 · OGG
│ ├── Sample LSB Psychoacoustic-style cost-ordered PCM LSB
│ ├── Phase coding Segment-phase encoding
│ └── Spectrogram art Visual payloads in spectrum domain
│
├── Document Carriers TXT · PDF · DOCX · XLSX
│ ├── Unicode whitespace Adaptive insertion-point ranking (ZWSP/ZWNJ/ZWJ)
│ ├── Linguistic mode Key-aware synonym-channel text steganography
│ ├── PDF streams Object/stream/metadata injection
│ └── Office XML Custom XML parts and streams
│
├── Binary Carriers ELF · PE/EXE/DLL (CLI)
│ ├── ELF slack/notes 2-bit masked region-cost embedding
│ └── PE slack/overlay 2-bit masked region-cost embedding
│
├── Network Covert Channels (CLI)
│ ├── TCP field channels ip_id, tcp_seq, ttl
│ └── Timing channel Inter-packet delay encoding
│
├── Crypto + Survivability
│ ├── AES-256-GCM + Argon2
│ ├── Decoy mode Dual-payload plausible deniability
│ ├── Wet-paper wrapping Reed-Solomon resilience wrapper
│ └── Platform profiles Social-media-aware method selection/simulation
│
└── Interfaces
├── CLI Hybrid-first grouped method selection + full command mode
├── Web UI (Flask) Grouped method pills, hybrid badges, local SSE streaming
└── CTF mode One command, all relevant detectors, ranked report
If you wish to build StegoForge from source or utilize the Python APIs natively:
git clone https://github.com/Nour833/StegoForge.git
cd StegoForge
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -r requirements-web.txt
pip install -e .
Fire up the Glassmorphism Web App instantly:
stegoforge web # Automatically deploys at http://localhost:5000
Note on ML Architecture: StegoForge implements true Machine Learning steganalysis. The very first time you boot the engine, it will silently interface with HuggingFace to download the ONNX CNN weights directly into your
~/.stegoforge/modelscache.
Don't want to memorize terminal commands? Just run the tool on its own to access the interactive CLI!
stegoforge
The menu features a cinematic startup sequence, grouped method selection, and guided transitions between Encoding, Decoding, and Forensics.
Pro-Tips for Automation:
STEGOFORGE_FAST_UI=1 stegoforge skips animations for rapid, zero-delay bootups.STEGOFORGE_UI_STAGE_DELAY=0.45 stegoforge fine-tunes the pacing of the visual display.If you prefer raw terminal throughput, the CLI supports hyper-specific routing for all modules.
# Basic LSB into PNG
stegoforge encode -c photo.png -p message.txt -k "passphrase"
# Stealth JPEG DCT with custom bit depth
stegoforge encode -c photo.jpg -p secret.bin -k "key" --method dct
# Spectrogram Art — Hide a visual image inside playable audio
stegoforge encode -c music.wav -p logo.png --method spectrogram