What is ich_a12_plus_ramdisk?

ICH_A12+ Ramdisk is a research tool that sets up an SSH-accessible ramdisk on iPhone and iPad models using Apple's A12 or A13 chip, after the device has already been put into a special exploited DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode using a separate tool called usbliter8. The README is explicit that this is not a jailbreak, and is intended only for research on devices you personally own. Once a device is in the required pwned DFU state and connected to a Mac by USB cable, this project's scripts handle the rest of the process automatically: checking the connection, building a customized boot image for the specific iOS version installed, sending it to the device, and finally opening an SSH connection into the device using a default password. From there, a user can mount the device's system, preboot, and other internal partitions to inspect them, though the project notes that fully mounting the main user data partition is not solved on iOS 17 and newer due to additional Apple security protections. The tool supports a range of iOS versions and lets the user choose between a patched kernel, which relaxes some Apple security checks for research purposes, or the stock unmodified kernel. It also includes flags to skip certain firmware steps or change boot behavior. The project is built on top of other open-source tools in this space, including usbliter8 and several patch-finding utilities credited in the README, and is released under the MIT license.