[Q] Extract partition / img using Qualcomm EDL mode? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Are there any tools / is it possible to download partitions (img files) from a Qualcomm device using emergency download mode? Simply boot_a / boot_b as I assume user will be encrypted.
I know there is QPST, but from hours of trying and what I have read, it seems to only support older MSM devices not newer Snapdragon? Am I wrong?

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Well, if you have the firehose file for that particular soc and the rawprogram0.xml, you can. Usually the firehose file get leaked after the phone is released.
What model are you trying to work on?

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HTC U19e
Snapdragon 710

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outrage_uk said:
HTC U19e
Snapdragon 710
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a link to a list of programmers. If you see your phone here, which I didn't (but try ctrl-f the processor, that should be in the filename, it's a good bet you'll be able to find it. As far as I know, my phone's MSM8998 does not have a leaked programmer. It's not as universally applicable as a lot of guides make it seem. If you do have the programmer and correct patches, they allow arbitrary read/write to a phone in edl mode. It's a major security backdoor, but very useful for users like us too. However, neither users like us, nor malicious agents are thought very highly of by American phone manufacturers.

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Here's how to access partitions without rawprogram0.xml or patch0.xml
Hi,
If you have the correct prog_emmc_firehose_xxxx.mbn file for your QualComm SoC, you can extract the partition table and all partitions without having access to any rawprogram0.xml or patch0.xml.
The basics are in the excellent guide at https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-how-to-dump-write-storage-t3949588
Summary:
- trigger EDL mode, which you have if your phone shows up as USB vendor 05c6, product 9008. Make sure you have "Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008" as the active driver, giving you a virtual COM port.
- use QFIL to load the prog_emmc_firehose_xxx.mbn file - chose Flat Build
- use QPST's fh_loader.exe to talk to the firehose to read or write the emmc at arbitrary sector offsets
With all that working, you can start by reading the GPT partition table, 34 sectors starting from sector 0:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\QPST\bin\fh_loader.exe" --port=\\.\COM8 --search_path=C:\my\extract\path --convertprogram2read --sendimage=gpt.bin --start_sector=0 --lun=0 --num_sectors=34 --noprompt --showpercentagecomplete --zlpawarehost=1 --memoryname=emmc
Replace COM8 with whatever COM port that Qualcomm HS-USB driver providers according to Windows Device Manager, and ensure that whatever you choose as C:\my\extract\path exists.
When the tool is done, you'll have a C:\my\extract\path\gpt.bin that you can examine to get the sector offsets and counts for each of your partitions. I used Linux' gdisk for that:
$ gdisk -l gpt.bin
...
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 131072 294911 80.0 MiB 0700 modem
2 294912 296959 1024.0 KiB FFFF bluetooth
3 296960 297215 128.0 KiB A01E pmic
4 297216 297471 128.0 KiB A01E pmicbak
5 297472 297473 1024 bytes A040 limits
6 297474 299521 1024.0 KiB A01A DDR
7 299522 299777 128.0 KiB A01D sec
8 393216 393727 256.0 KiB A022 apdp
9 393728 394239 256.0 KiB A023 msadp
10 394240 394241 1024 bytes A024 dpo
11 524288 527359 1.5 MiB A02A fsg
12 655360 655361 1024 bytes A029 fsc
13 655362 655377 8.0 KiB A02C ssd
14 655378 658449 1.5 MiB A027 modemst1
15 658450 661521 1.5 MiB A028 modemst2
16 661522 663569 1024.0 KiB A012 sbl1
17 663570 665617 1024.0 KiB A012 sbl1bak
18 665618 665809 96.0 KiB A019 sdi
19 665810 667857 1024.0 KiB A016 tz
20 667858 669905 1024.0 KiB A016 tzbak
21 669906 670905 500.0 KiB A018 rpm
22 670906 671905 500.0 KiB A018 rpmbak
23 671906 672929 512.0 KiB A017 hyp
24 672930 673953 512.0 KiB A017 hypbak
25 673954 740801 32.6 MiB FFFF splash
26 786432 796671 5.0 MiB A015 aboot
27 796672 806911 5.0 MiB A015 abootbak
28 806912 937983 64.0 MiB A036 boot
29 937984 1069055 64.0 MiB A025 recovery
30 1069056 7360511 3.0 GiB A038 system
31 7471104 10616831 1.5 GiB A039 cache
32 10616832 10682367 32.0 MiB A026 persist
33 10682368 10684415 1024.0 KiB A01F misc
34 10684416 10685439 512.0 KiB A02D keystore
35 10747904 10747905 1024 bytes A021 devinfo
36 10878976 10879999 512.0 KiB FFFF config
37 10880000 61071326 23.9 GiB A03A userdata
From there, you have enough information to back up each of your partitions, write a custom recovery, etcetera.
In my case, a Gigaset ME, both the system and userdata partitions were normal, unencrypted ext4 partitions with ample opportunities for forensics and data recovery.
Needless to say, there was no need to unlock bootloaders, install custom recovery, root the phone, or whatever.