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Getting Started

Exhume APFS dependencies and current support

Learn the basic principles of exhuming an Apple FileSystem (APFS) container from a disk image.

The exhume APFS module is helping the investigator with the analysis of the Apple APFS container, allowing to list volumes, resolve paths and extract file content.

Current support focuses on modern APFS filesystems extracted with Macquisition.

🛠️ Prerequisites​

Installing Rust​

The Exhume Toolkit is built with Rust and requires it for development or compilation.

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

Installing Exhume APFS​

The following will install Exhume APFS globally.

cargo install exhume_apfs

🚀 Basic Usage​

Options​

OptionDescription
-b, --body <body>The path to the body to exhume.
-f, --format <format>The format of the file, either 'raw', 'ewf', or 'auto'.
-o, --offset <offset>The APFS container start address (decimal or hex).
-s, --size <size>The size of the APFS container in sectors (decimal or hex).
--volume-index <index>Select a specific volume index (default is 0).
--list-volumesList all discovered APFS volumes with metadata.
--root-inodeAuto-detect and print the root inode id for the selected volume.
--inode <inode>Show inode metadata for a specific inode number.
--dir_entryIf --inode is specified and it is a directory, list its directory entries.
--path <path>Resolve a path and show its inode metadata.
--dumpIf --inode is a regular file, dump its raw content to stdout.
--omap-oid <oid>Query selected volume OMAP for this object id.
-j, --jsonOutput in JSON format.
-l, --log-level <log_level>Set the log verbosity level. Default: info.
-h, --helpPrint help.
-V, --versionPrint version.
exhume_apfs -b <path_to_image> -f <format> -o <offset> -s <size> [options]

📘 Example​

Listing volumes​

exhume_apfs -b disk.E01 -f ewf --offset 0x5000 --size 0x100000 --list-volumes

Listing a directory​

exhume_apfs -b disk.E01 -f ewf --offset 0x5000 --size 0x100000 --inode 2 --dir_entry

Resolving a path​

exhume_apfs -b disk.E01 -f ewf --offset 0x5000 --size 0x100000 --path "/Users/k1nd0ne/Desktop"