01 · Product name
CAINE
Ubuntu forensics live system. 14.0 is 24 Mar 2025.
Published by Nanni Bassetti.
In short
CAINE is the live forensic distribution at caine-live.net, short for Computer Aided Investigative Environment. On 21 Oct 2026 the news page said CAINE 14.0 Lightstream was released 24 Mar 2025, kernel 6.8.0-52, based on Ubuntu 24.04. CAINE 13.0 Warp is a separate line dated 16 Mar 2023 on Ubuntu 22.04. The downloads page says CAINE and WinTaylor are free software under the LGPL, version 2.1 or later. Nanni Bassetti is named as the current project manager. A forensic image is not permission to examine a disk you do not hold.
Product pricing strategy
02
Free
The downloads page says CAINE and WinTaylor are free software under the LGPL. No euro or dollar price was printed on the homepage, the downloads page, or the news page opened 21 Oct 2026. Freeware is the homepage's word for the Windows-side tools, and it is not a price. The Creative Commons link in the footer is a license for the website, not a fee for the ISO. A class or a textbook that uses CAINE would be a different seller. None was priced on these pages. The March 2025 date is a release date. It does not become a support contract. If a later page adds a paid build, quote that page on its own.
Utility and features
03
The news file at caine-live.net/page6/files/category-release.html is the version source. It says CAINE 14.0 Lightstream 64bit was released 24/Mar/2025, with kernel 6.8.0-52, based on Ubuntu 24.04 64-bit and UEFI ready. The same file dates CAINE 13.0 Warp to 16/Mar/2023, kernel 5.15.0-67, Ubuntu 22.04. Those two releases stay on their own dates. The homepage says 14.0 blocks block devices read-only by default and that a desktop tool named Unblock can change that. It also says Autopsy and Gimp are no longer installed, for ISO size.
- 14.0 on 24 Mar 2025. The news page dates Lightstream to 24/Mar/2025, kernel 6.8.0-52, Ubuntu 24.04.
- 13.0 stays in 2023. The same news page dates Warp to 16/Mar/2023, kernel 5.15.0-67, Ubuntu 22.04.
- LGPL for the distro name. The downloads page says CAINE and WinTaylor are LGPL 2.1 or later. The site footer is a different Creative Commons line.
The downloads page repeats the license sentence: CAINE, WinTaylor, and the Windows-side tools are free software under the GNU LGPL, version 2.1 or, at your option, any later version, and the distro is realized from Ubuntu. The homepage says the project is open source, the Windows side is freeware, and the system is installable. The install note on the homepage says to choose user CAINE, password CAINE, host CAINE. The site footer points at a Creative Commons license for the website, which is not the distro license. No github.com repository was confirmed from these pages.
- 1
Cite 14.0 when you mean the image the homepage calls latest, and cite 13.0 only with its 2023 date.
- 2
Leave disks read-only unless you are allowed to write. The homepage says Unblock changes that default.
- 3
Replace the CAINE install account before anyone else uses the machine.
Caveats
04
14.0 and 13.0 are different images. Kernel 6.8.0-52 and Ubuntu 24.04 belong to Lightstream, dated 24 Mar 2025. Kernel 5.15.0-67 and Ubuntu 22.04 belong to Warp, dated 16 Mar 2023. The homepage still calls 14.0 the latest installable release. That is a 2025 image reviewed in October 2026, not a build from this week.
Change the install account CAINE / CAINE before the machine is shared. The homepage prints that pair as the Ubiquity choices. Read-only block devices are the homepage's default. Unlocking a disk is a write. Do it only on media you are allowed to change. This listing does not repeat the iPod-owner script or any other examination procedure. A live forensic system is for media you hold.
Screenshots
05
Potential use cases
06
- Lightstream and Warp are about to share a kernel. The news page dates CAINE 14.0 Lightstream to 24 Mar 2025, kernel 6.8.0-52, Ubuntu 24.04. It dates CAINE 13.0 Warp to 16 Mar 2023, kernel 5.15.0-67, Ubuntu 22.04. The homepage calls 14.0 the latest installable release. That latest line is a March 2025 image, reviewed here in October 2026.
- The installer is about to be left on the account the homepage names. The install note says user CAINE, password CAINE, host CAINE. Change it. The same homepage says 14.0 mounts block devices read-only until Unblock or Mounter changes the policy. A write to a disk is a separate decision from booting the image.
- The footer license is about to be copied onto the ISO. The downloads page says CAINE and WinTaylor are free software under the LGPL, version 2.1 or later. The footer points at a Creative Commons license for the website. Those are different objects. No dollar price was printed on the pages opened 21 Oct 2026.
Hard cases
The case where the first result is easy to over-read.
Warp's kernel is called current
Kernel 5.15.0-67 belongs to CAINE 13.0, dated 16 Mar 2023. Kernel 6.8.0-52 belongs to 14.0, dated 24 Mar 2025. A note that uses the older kernel for the image the homepage calls latest contradicts the news page. Name the release, then the kernel.
Questions
Is CAINE free?
The downloads page says it is free software under the GNU LGPL, version 2.1 or later. No dollar or euro price was printed on the pages opened 21 Oct 2026.
Which CAINE release is current on the site?
The homepage and the news page call CAINE 14.0 Lightstream the latest, released 24 Mar 2025, on Ubuntu 24.04. CAINE 13.0 Warp is dated 16 Mar 2023.
Citations
07
Titled sources. These public pages are what the quotes on this listing come from.
Product
CAINE homepage
https://www.caine-live.net/Documentation
CAINE release news
https://www.caine-live.net/page6/files/category-release.htmlDocumentation
CAINE downloads
https://www.caine-live.net/page5/page5.html