diff --git a/doc/files.md b/doc/files.md
index b738d6055a2..3732a7d24a5 100644
--- a/doc/files.md
+++ b/doc/files.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 - [Legacy subdirectories and files](#legacy-subdirectories-and-files)
 
+- [Filesystem recommendations](#filesystem-recommendations)
+
 - [Notes](#notes)
 
 ## Data directory location
@@ -123,6 +125,12 @@ Path           | Description | Repository notes
 `addr.dat`     | Peer IP address BDB database; replaced by `peers.dat` in [0.7.0](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/release-notes/release-notes-0.7.0.md) | [PR #1198](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/1198), [`928d3a01`](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/928d3a011cc66c7f907c4d053f674ea77dc611cc)
 `onion_private_key` | Cached Tor onion service private key for `-listenonion` option. Was used for Tor v2 services; replaced by `onion_v3_private_key` in [0.21.0](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/release-notes/release-notes-0.21.0.md) | [PR #19954](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/19954)
 
+## Filesystem recommendations
+
+When choosing a filesystem for the data directory (`datadir`) or blocks directory (`blocksdir`), some filesystems should be avoided:
+
+- **MacOS**: The exFAT filesystem should not be used. There have been multiple reports of database corruption when using exFAT on MacOS for Bitcoin Core. This appears to be due to filesystem-level issues with exFAT on MacOS. See [Issue #31454](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/31454) for more details.
+
 ## Notes
 
 <a name="note1">1</a>. The `/` (slash, U+002F) is used as the platform-independent path component separator in this document.
diff --git a/src/common/init.cpp b/src/common/init.cpp
index 5a704404689..812a781c5ae 100644
--- a/src/common/init.cpp
+++ b/src/common/init.cpp
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@
 #include <common/args.h>
 #include <common/init.h>
 #include <logging.h>
+#include <node/interface_ui.h>
 #include <tinyformat.h>
 #include <util/fs.h>
+#include <util/fs_helpers.h>
 #include <util/translation.h>
 
 #include <algorithm>
@@ -62,6 +64,35 @@ std::optional<ConfigError> InitConfig(ArgsManager& args, SettingsAbortFn setting
             fs::create_directories(net_path / "wallets");
         }
 
+        // Warn if we are trying to put the datadir on an exFAT fs on MacOS
+        // This is an upstream issue known to cause bugs, see #28552
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+        struct PathCheck {
+            fs::path path;
+            std::string_view description;
+        };
+        std::array<PathCheck, 2> paths_to_check{{
+            {args.GetDataDirNet(), "data directory"},
+            {args.GetBlocksDirPath(), "blocks directory"}
+        }};
+        for (const auto& check : paths_to_check) {
+            FSType fs_type = GetFilesystemType(check.path);
+            switch(fs_type) {
+                case FSType::EXFAT:
+                    InitWarning(strprintf(_("Specified %s \"%s\" is exFAT which is known to have intermittent corruption problems on MacOS. "
+                        "See https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/files.md#filesystem-recommendations for more information."),
+                        check.description,
+                        fs::PathToString(check.path)));
+                    break;
+                case FSType::ERROR:
+                    LogInfo("Failed to detect filesystem type of %s: %s\n", check.description, fs::PathToString(check.path));
+                    break;
+                default:
+                    break;
+            }
+        }
+#endif
+
         // Show an error or warn/log if there is a bitcoin.conf file in the
         // datadir that is being ignored.
         const fs::path base_config_path = base_path / BITCOIN_CONF_FILENAME;
diff --git a/src/util/fs_helpers.cpp b/src/util/fs_helpers.cpp
index 4d06afe1442..6bf417bb46b 100644
--- a/src/util/fs_helpers.cpp
+++ b/src/util/fs_helpers.cpp
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
 #include <shlobj.h> /* For SHGetSpecialFolderPathW */
 #endif // WIN32
 
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+#include <sys/mount.h>
+#endif
+
 /** Mutex to protect dir_locks. */
 static GlobalMutex cs_dir_locks;
 /** A map that contains all the currently held directory locks. After
@@ -309,3 +313,17 @@ std::optional<fs::perms> InterpretPermString(const std::string& s)
         return std::nullopt;
     }
 }
+
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+FSType GetFilesystemType(const fs::path& path) {
+    struct statfs fs_info;
+    if (statfs(path.c_str(), &fs_info) != 0) {
+        return FSType::ERROR;
+    }
+
+    if (strcmp(fs_info.f_fstypename, "exfat") == 0) {
+        return FSType::EXFAT;
+    }
+    return FSType::OTHER;
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/src/util/fs_helpers.h b/src/util/fs_helpers.h
index 28dd6d979d5..7423da82a42 100644
--- a/src/util/fs_helpers.h
+++ b/src/util/fs_helpers.h
@@ -14,6 +14,23 @@
 #include <limits>
 #include <optional>
 
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+enum class FSType {
+    EXFAT,
+    OTHER,
+    ERROR
+};
+
+/**
+ * Detect filesystem type for a given path.
+ * Currently identifies exFAT filesystems which cause issues on MacOS.
+ *
+ * @param[in] path The directory path to check
+ * @return FSType enum indicating the filesystem type
+ */
+FSType GetFilesystemType(const fs::path& path);
+#endif
+
 /**
  * Ensure file contents are fully committed to disk, using a platform-specific
  * feature analogous to fsync().