[bdelay]

See the Note from Harman section.

Hence, as the check wasn't working, I never ran into the check. Dat file signatures may very well be in the header or stored somewhere else.

[usmannk]

Ah I see, missed that the first time around. Another thing I’m wondering after processing this: did you ever try to ssh as the dm or daemon user after seeing the passwd file originally in ifs-subaru-gen3.raw?

P.S. Thank you for writing this! It’s super interesting snd very easy to follow. I’ve shared it with friends both for the content and also as an example of excellent technical writing.