Awesome Penetration Testing

A collection of awesome penetration testing and offensive
cybersecurity resources.
Penetration
testing is the practice of launching authorized, simulated attacks
against computer systems and their physical infrastructure to expose
potential security weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Should you discover a
vulnerability, please follow this guidance to report it
responsibly.
Your contributions and suggestions are heartily♥ welcome. (✿◕‿◕).
Please check the Contributing Guidelines
for more details. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.
Contents
Android Utilities
- cSploit - Advanced IT
security professional toolkit on Android featuring an integrated
Metasploit daemon and MITM capabilities.
- Fing - Network
scanning and host enumeration app that performs NetBIOS, UPnP, Bonjour,
SNMP, and various other advanced device fingerprinting techniques.
See also awesome-tor.
- Nipe - Script to
redirect all traffic from the machine to the Tor network.
- OnionScan - Tool for
investigating the Dark Web by finding operational security issues
introduced by Tor hidden service operators.
- Tails - Live operating system
aiming to preserve your privacy and anonymity.
- Tor - Free software and
onion routed overlay network that helps you defend against traffic
analysis.
- dos-over-tor -
Proof of concept denial of service over Tor stress test tool.
- kalitorify
- Transparent proxy through Tor for Kali Linux OS.
- AntiVirus Evasion Tool
(AVET) - Post-process exploits containing executable files targeted
for Windows machines to avoid being recognized by antivirus
software.
- CarbonCopy
- Tool that creates a spoofed certificate of any online website and
signs an Executable for AV evasion.
- Hyperion -
Runtime encryptor for 32-bit portable executables (“PE
.exes”).
- Shellter - Dynamic
shellcode injection tool, and the first truly dynamic PE infector ever
created.
- UniByAv -
Simple obfuscator that takes raw shellcode and generates Anti-Virus
friendly executables by using a brute-forcable, 32-bit XOR key.
- Veil - Generate
metasploit payloads that bypass common anti-virus solutions.
- peCloakCapstone -
Multi-platform fork of the peCloak.py automated malware antivirus
evasion tool.
- Amber - Reflective
PE packer for converting native PE files to position-independent
shellcode.
Books
See also DEF CON
Suggested Reading.
- Advanced
Penetration Testing by Wil Allsopp, 2017
- Advanced
Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments by Lee Allen,
2012
- Advanced
Persistent Threat Hacking: The Art and Science of Hacking Any
Organization by Tyler Wrightson, 2014
- Android
Hacker’s Handbook by Joshua J. Drake et al., 2014
- BTFM:
Blue Team Field Manual by Alan J White & Ben Clark, 2017
- Black
Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters by Justin
Seitz, 2014
- Bug Hunter’s Diary by
Tobias Klein, 2011
- Car Hacker’s Handbook by
Craig Smith, 2016
- Effective
Software Testing, 2021
- Fuzzing: Brute Force Vulnerability
Discovery by Michael Sutton et al., 2007
- Metasploit: The
Penetration Tester’s Guide by David Kennedy et al., 2011
- Penetration Testing: A
Hands-On Introduction to Hacking by Georgia Weidman, 2014
- Penetration
Testing: Procedures & Methodologies by EC-Council, 2010
- Professional
Penetration Testing by Thomas Wilhelm, 2013
- RTFM:
Red Team Field Manual by Ben Clark, 2014
- The Art of Exploitation
by Jon Erickson, 2008
- The
Art of Network Penetration Testing, 2020
- The
Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing by Patrick Engebretson,
2013
- The
Database Hacker’s Handbook, David Litchfield et al., 2005
- The
Hacker Playbook by Peter Kim, 2014
- The
Mac Hacker’s Handbook by Charlie Miller & Dino Dai Zovi,
2009
- The
Mobile Application Hacker’s Handbook by Dominic Chell et al.,
2015
- Unauthorised
Access: Physical Penetration Testing For IT Security Teams by Wil
Allsopp, 2010
- Violent
Python by TJ O’Connor, 2012
- iOS
Hacker’s Handbook by Charlie Miller et al., 2012
Malware Analysis Books
See awesome-malware-analysis
§ Books.
- CTF Field Guide -
Everything you need to win your next CTF competition.
- Ciphey - Automated
decryption tool using artificial intelligence and natural language
processing.
- RsaCtfTool -
Decrypt data enciphered using weak RSA keys, and recover private keys
from public keys using a variety of automated attacks.
- ctf-tools -
Collection of setup scripts to install various security research tools
easily and quickly deployable to new machines.
- shellpop -
Easily generate sophisticated reverse or bind shell commands to help you
save time during penetration tests.
See also HackingThe.cloud.
- Cloud
Container Attack Tool (CCAT) - Tool for testing security of
container environments.
- CloudHunter -
Looks for AWS, Azure and Google cloud storage buckets and lists
permissions for vulnerable buckets.
- Cloudsplaining
- Identifies violations of least privilege in AWS IAM policies and
generates a pretty HTML report with a triage worksheet.
- Endgame - AWS
Pentesting tool that lets you use one-liner commands to backdoor an AWS
account’s resources with a rogue AWS account.
- GCPBucketBrute
- Script to enumerate Google Storage buckets, determine what access you
have to them, and determine if they can be privilege escalated.
- Dradis - Open-source reporting and
collaboration tool for IT security professionals.
- Hexway Hive - Commercial
collaboration, data aggregation, and reporting framework for red teams
with a limited free self-hostable option.
- Lair -
Reactive attack collaboration framework and web application built with
meteor.
- Pentest
Collaboration Framework (PCF) - Open source, cross-platform, and
portable toolkit for automating routine pentest processes with a
team.
- Reconmap - Open-source
collaboration platform for InfoSec professionals that streamlines the
pentest process.
- RedELK - Track
and alarm about Blue Team activities while providing better usability in
long term offensive operations.
Conferences and Events
- BSides - Framework for
organising and holding security conferences.
- CTFTime.org - Directory of
upcoming and archive of past Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions with
links to challenge writeups.
Asia
- HITB - Deep-knowledge
security conference held in Malaysia and The Netherlands.
- HITCON - Hacks In Taiwan
Conference held in Taiwan.
- Nullcon - Annual
conference in Delhi and Goa, India.
- SECUINSIDE - Security Conference
in Seoul.
Europe
- 44Con - Annual Security Conference
held in London.
- BalCCon - Balkan Computer
Congress, annually held in Novi Sad, Serbia.
- BruCON - Annual security conference
in Belgium.
- CCC - Annual meeting
of the international hacker scene in Germany.
- DeepSec - Security Conference in
Vienna, Austria.
- DefCamp - Largest Security Conference
in Eastern Europe, held annually in Bucharest, Romania.
- FSec - FSec - Croatian Information
Security Gathering in Varaždin, Croatia.
- Hack.lu - Annual conference held in
Luxembourg.
- Infosecurity Europe
- Europe’s number one information security event, held in London,
UK.
- SteelCon - Security
conference in Sheffield UK.
- Swiss Cyber Storm -
Annual security conference in Lucerne, Switzerland.
- Troopers - Annual
international IT Security event with workshops held in Heidelberg,
Germany.
- HoneyCON - Annual Security
Conference in Guadalajara, Spain. Organized by the HoneySEC
association.
North America
- AppSecUSA - Annual conference
organized by OWASP.
- Black Hat - Annual security
conference in Las Vegas.
- CarolinaCon - Infosec
conference, held annually in North Carolina.
- DEF CON - Annual hacker
convention in Las Vegas.
- DerbyCon - Annual hacker
conference based in Louisville.
- Hackers Next
Door - Cybersecurity and social technology conference held in New
York City.
- Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) -
Semi-annual conference held in New York City.
- Hackfest - Largest hacking
conference in Canada.
- LayerOne - Annual US security
conference held every spring in Los Angeles.
- National Cyber
Summit - Annual US security conference and Capture the Flag event,
held in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
- PhreakNIC - Technology
conference held annually in middle Tennessee.
- RSA Conference USA -
Annual security conference in San Francisco, California, USA.
- ShmooCon - Annual US East coast
hacker convention.
- SkyDogCon - Technology
conference in Nashville.
- SummerCon - One of the
oldest hacker conventions in America, held during Summer.
- ThotCon - Annual US hacker
conference held in Chicago.
- Virus
Bulletin Conference - Annual conference going to be held in Denver,
USA for 2016.
South America
- Ekoparty - Largest Security
Conference in Latin America, held annually in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
- Hackers to Hackers Conference
(H2HC) - Oldest security research (hacking) conference in Latin
America and one of the oldest ones still active in the world.
Zealandia
- CHCon - Christchurch Hacker Con, Only
South Island of New Zealand hacker con.
- DET - Proof of
concept to perform data exfiltration using either single or multiple
channel(s) at the same time.
- Iodine - Tunnel IPv4 data
through a DNS server; useful for exfiltration from networks where
Internet access is firewalled, but DNS queries are allowed.
- TrevorC2 -
Client/server tool for masking command and control and data exfiltration
through a normally browsable website, not typical HTTP POST
requests.
- dnscat2 - Tool
designed to create an encrypted command and control channel over the DNS
protocol, which is an effective tunnel out of almost every network.
- pwnat - Punches holes
in firewalls and NATs.
- tgcd - Simple Unix
network utility to extend the accessibility of TCP/IP based network
services beyond firewalls.
- QueenSono -
Client/Server Binaries for data exfiltration with ICMP. Useful in a
network where ICMP protocol is less monitored than others (which is a
common case).
See also Reverse Engineering
Tools.
- H26Forge -
Domain-specific infrastructure for analyzing, generating, and
manipulating syntactically correct but semantically spec-non-compliant
video files.
- Magic Unicorn -
Shellcode generator for numerous attack vectors, including Microsoft
Office macros, PowerShell, HTML applications (HTA), or
certutil (using fake certificates).
- Pwntools -
Rapid exploit development framework built for use in CTFs.
- Wordpress
Exploit Framework - Ruby framework for developing and using modules
which aid in the penetration testing of WordPress powered websites and
systems.
- peda - Python Exploit
Development Assistance for GDB.
- ExifTool -
Platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for
reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of
files.
- Hachoir - Python
library to view and edit a binary stream as tree of fields and tools for
metadata extraction.
- Kaitai Struct - File formats and
network protocols dissection language and web IDE, generating parsers in
C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby.
- peepdf
- Python tool to explore PDF files in order to find out if the file can
be harmful or not.
- Veles - Binary data
visualization and analysis tool.
GNU/Linux Utilities
- Hwacha -
Post-exploitation tool to quickly execute payloads via SSH on one or
more Linux systems simultaneously.
- Linux
Exploit Suggester - Heuristic reporting on potentially viable
exploits for a given GNU/Linux system.
- Lynis - Auditing tool for
UNIX-based systems.
- checksec.sh
- Shell script designed to test what standard Linux OS and PaX security
features are being used.
- BruteForce
Wallet - Find the password of an encrypted wallet file
(i.e.
wallet.dat).
- CeWL - Generates
custom wordlists by spidering a target’s website and collecting unique
words.
- duplicut - Quickly
remove duplicates, without changing the order, and without getting OOM
on huge wordlists.
- GoCrack -
Management Web frontend for distributed password cracking sessions using
hashcat (or other supported tools) written in Go.
- Hashcat - The more fast
hash cracker.
- hate_crack -
Tool for automating cracking methodologies through Hashcat.
- JWT Cracker -
Simple HS256 JSON Web Token (JWT) token brute force cracker.
- John the Ripper - Fast
password cracker.
- Rar Crack - RAR
bruteforce cracker.
Hex Editors
- Bless - High
quality, full featured, cross-platform graphical hex editor written in
Gtk#.
- Frhed - Binary file
editor for Windows.
- Hex Fiend - Fast,
open source, hex editor for macOS with support for viewing binary
diffs.
- HexEdit.js - Browser-based hex
editing.
- Hexinator - World’s finest
(proprietary, commercial) Hex Editor.
- hexedit - Simple,
fast, console-based hex editor.
- wxHexEditor - Free GUI hex
editor for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Industrial Control and
SCADA Systems
See also awesome-industrial-control-system-security.
- Industrial Exploitation
Framework (ISF) - Metasploit-like exploit framework based on
routersploit designed to target Industrial Control Systems (ICS), SCADA
devices, PLC firmware, and more.
- s7scan -
Scanner for enumerating Siemens S7 PLCs on a TCP/IP or LLC network.
- OpalOPC - Commercial OPC UA
vulnerability assessment tool, sold by Molemmat.
Intentionally Vulnerable
Systems
See also awesome-vulnerable.
* Pentest-Ground.
Intentionally
Vulnerable Systems as Docker Containers
Lock Picking
See awesome-lockpicking.
macOS Utilities
- Bella - Pure Python
post-exploitation data mining and remote administration tool for
macOS.
- EvilOSX - Modular
RAT that uses numerous evasion and exfiltration techniques
out-of-the-box.
Multi-paradigm Frameworks
- Armitage - Java-based
GUI front-end for the Metasploit Framework.
- AutoSploit -
Automated mass exploiter, which collects target by employing the
Shodan.io API and programmatically chooses Metasploit exploit modules
based on the Shodan query.
- Decker -
Penetration testing orchestration and automation framework, which allows
writing declarative, reusable configurations capable of ingesting
variables and using outputs of tools it has run as inputs to
others.
- Faraday -
Multiuser integrated pentesting environment for red teams performing
cooperative penetration tests, security audits, and risk
assessments.
- Metasploit - Software for
offensive security teams to help verify vulnerabilities and manage
security assessments.
- Pupy - Cross-platform
(Windows, Linux, macOS, Android) remote administration and
post-exploitation tool.
- Ronin - Free and Open Source Ruby
Toolkit for Security Research and Development, providing many different
libraries and commands for a variety of security tasks, such as recon,
vulnerability scanning, exploit development, exploitation,
post-exploitation, and more.
- CrackMapExec -
Swiss army knife for pentesting networks.
- IKEForce -
Command line IPSEC VPN brute forcing tool for Linux that allows group
name/ID enumeration and XAUTH brute forcing capabilities.
- Intercepter-NG - Multifunctional
network toolkit.
- Legion -
Graphical semi-automated discovery and reconnaissance framework based on
Python 3 and forked from SPARTA.
- Network-Tools.com - Website
offering an interface to numerous basic network utilities like
ping, traceroute, whois, and
more.
- Ncrack - High-speed network
authentication cracking tool built to help companies secure their
networks by proactively testing all their hosts and networking devices
for poor passwords.
- Praeda - Automated
multi-function printer data harvester for gathering usable data during
security assessments.
- Printer Exploitation
Toolkit (PRET) - Tool for printer security testing capable of IP and
USB connectivity, fuzzing, and exploitation of PostScript, PJL, and PCL
printer language features.
- SPARTA - Graphical
interface offering scriptable, configurable access to existing network
infrastructure scanning and enumeration tools.
- SigPloit -
Signaling security testing framework dedicated to telecom security for
researching vulnerabilites in the signaling protocols used in mobile
(cellular phone) operators.
- Smart Install
Exploitation Tool (SIET) - Scripts for identifying Cisco Smart
Install-enabled switches on a network and then manipulating them.
- THC Hydra -
Online password cracking tool with built-in support for many network
protocols, including HTTP, SMB, FTP, telnet, ICQ, MySQL, LDAP, IMAP,
VNC, and more.
- Tsunami -
General purpose network security scanner with an extensible plugin
system for detecting high severity vulnerabilities with high
confidence.
- Zarp - Network attack
tool centered around the exploitation of local networks.
- dnstwist - Domain
name permutation engine for detecting typo squatting, phishing and
corporate espionage.
- dsniff -
Collection of tools for network auditing and pentesting.
- impacket -
Collection of Python classes for working with network protocols.
- pivotsuite -
Portable, platform independent and powerful network pivoting
toolkit.
- routersploit -
Open source exploitation framework similar to Metasploit but dedicated
to embedded devices.
- rshijack - TCP
connection hijacker, Rust rewrite of
shijack.
- Anevicon - Powerful
UDP-based load generator, written in Rust.
- D(HE)ater -
D(HE)ater sends forged cryptographic handshake messages to enforce the
Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
- HOIC
- Updated version of Low Orbit Ion Cannon, has ‘boosters’ to get around
common counter measures.
- Low Orbit Ion Canon
(LOIC) - Open source network stress tool written for Windows.
- Memcrashed -
DDoS attack tool for sending forged UDP packets to vulnerable Memcached
servers obtained using Shodan API.
- SlowLoris - DoS
tool that uses low bandwidth on the attacking side.
- T50 - Faster
network stress tool.
- UFONet - Abuses OSI
layer 7 HTTP to create/manage ‘zombies’ and to conduct different attacks
using;
GET/POST, multithreading, proxies,
origin spoofing methods, cache evasion techniques, etc.
- ACLight - Script
for advanced discovery of sensitive Privileged Accounts - includes
Shadow Admins.
- AQUATONE -
Subdomain discovery tool utilizing various open sources producing a
report that can be used as input to other tools.
- CloudFail - Unmask
server IP addresses hidden behind Cloudflare by searching old database
records and detecting misconfigured DNS.
- DNSDumpster - Online DNS
recon and search service.
- Mass Scan
- TCP port scanner, spews SYN packets asynchronously, scanning entire
Internet in under 5 minutes.
- OWASP Amass - Subdomain
enumeration via scraping, web archives, brute forcing, permutations,
reverse DNS sweeping, TLS certificates, passive DNS data sources,
etc.
- ScanCannon -
POSIX-compliant BASH script to quickly enumerate large networks by
calling
masscan to quickly identify open ports and then
nmap to gain details on the systems/services on those
ports.
- XRay - Network
(sub)domain discovery and reconnaissance automation tool.
- dnsenum - Perl
script that enumerates DNS information from a domain, attempts zone
transfers, performs a brute force dictionary style attack, and then
performs reverse look-ups on the results.
- dnsmap - Passive DNS
network mapper.
- dnsrecon -
DNS enumeration script.
- dnstracer -
Determines where a given DNS server gets its information from, and
follows the chain of DNS servers.
- fierce - Python3
port of the original
fierce.pl DNS reconnaissance tool for
locating non-contiguous IP space.
- netdiscover
- Network address discovery scanner, based on ARP sweeps, developed
mainly for those wireless networks without a DHCP server.
- nmap - Free security scanner for
network exploration & security audits.
- passivedns-client
- Library and query tool for querying several passive DNS
providers.
- passivedns -
Network sniffer that logs all DNS server replies for use in a passive
DNS setup.
- RustScan -
Lightweight and quick open-source port scanner designed to automatically
pipe open ports into Nmap.
- scanless - Utility
for using websites to perform port scans on your behalf so as not to
reveal your own IP.
- smbmap - Handy
SMB enumeration tool.
- subbrute - DNS
meta-query spider that enumerates DNS records, and subdomains.
- zmap - Open source network scanner
that enables researchers to easily perform Internet-wide network
studies.
Protocol Analyzers and
Sniffers
See also awesome-pcaptools.
- Debookee - Simple and
powerful network traffic analyzer for macOS.
- Dshell -
Network forensic analysis framework.
- Netzob - Reverse
engineering, traffic generation and fuzzing of communication
protocols.
- Wireshark - Widely-used
graphical, cross-platform network protocol analyzer.
- netsniff-ng
- Swiss army knife for network sniffing.
- sniffglue - Secure
multithreaded packet sniffer.
- tcpdump/libpcap - Common
packet analyzer that runs under the command line.
- snort - Open Source
Intrusion Prevention System
- TraceWrangler - Network
capture file toolkit that can edit and merge
pcap or
pcapng files with batch editing features.
- WireEdit - Full stack WYSIWYG
pcap editor (requires a free license to edit packets).
- bittwist - Simple yet
powerful libpcap-based Ethernet packet generator useful in simulating
networking traffic or scenario, testing firewall, IDS, and IPS, and
troubleshooting various network problems.
- hping3 - Network tool
able to send custom TCP/IP packets.
- pig - GNU/Linux
packet crafting tool.
- scapy - Python-based
interactive packet manipulation program and library.
- tcpreplay - Suite of
free Open Source utilities for editing and replaying previously captured
network traffic.
See also Intercepting Web
proxies.
- BetterCAP - Modular,
portable and easily extensible MITM framework.
- Ettercap -
Comprehensive, mature suite for machine-in-the-middle attacks.
- Habu - Python
utility implementing a variety of network attacks, such as ARP
poisoning, DHCP starvation, and more.
- Lambda-Proxy -
Utility for testing SQL Injection vulnerabilities on AWS Lambda
serverless functions.
- MITMf - Framework
for Man-In-The-Middle attacks.
- Morpheus -
Automated ettercap TCP/IP Hijacking tool.
- SSH MITM -
Intercept SSH connections with a proxy; all plaintext passwords and
sessions are logged to disk.
- dnschef - Highly
configurable DNS proxy for pentesters.
- evilgrade -
Modular framework to take advantage of poor upgrade implementations by
injecting fake updates.
- mallory -
HTTP/HTTPS proxy over SSH.
- oregano -
Python module that runs as a machine-in-the-middle (MITM) accepting Tor
client requests.
- sylkie - Command
line tool and library for testing networks for common address spoofing
security vulnerabilities in IPv6 networks using the Neighbor Discovery
Protocol.
- PETEP - Extensible
TCP/UDP proxy with GUI for traffic analysis & modification with
SSL/TLS support.
- friTap - Intercept
SSL/TLS connections with frida; Allows TLS key extraction and decryption
of TLS payload as PCAP in real time.
- CryptoLyzer -
Fast and flexible server cryptographic (TLS/SSL/SSH/HTTP) settings
analyzer library for Python with CLI.
- SSLyze - Fast and
comprehensive TLS/SSL configuration analyzer to help identify security
mis-configurations.
- crackpkcs12
- Multithreaded program to crack PKCS#12 files (
.p12 and
.pfx extensions), such as TLS/SSL certificates.
- testssl.sh -
Command line tool which checks a server’s service on any port for the
support of TLS/SSL ciphers, protocols as well as some cryptographic
flaws.
- tls_prober
- Fingerprint a server’s SSL/TLS implementation.
- tlsmate - Framework
to create arbitrary TLS test cases. Comes with a TLS server scanner
plugin.
- ssh-audit - SSH
server & client auditing (banner, key exchange, encryption, mac,
compression, compatibility, security, etc).
- Aircrack-ng - Set of tools
for auditing wireless networks.
- Airgeddon -
Multi-use bash script for Linux systems to audit wireless networks.
- BoopSuite -
Suite of tools written in Python for wireless auditing.
- Bully
- Implementation of the WPS brute force attack, written in C.
- Cowpatty -
Brute-force dictionary attack against WPA-PSK.
- Fluxion -
Suite of automated social engineering based WPA attacks.
- KRACK
Detector - Detect and prevent KRACK attacks in your network.
- Kismet - Wireless network
detector, sniffer, and IDS.
- PSKracker -
Collection of WPA/WPA2/WPS default algorithms, password generators, and
PIN generators written in C.
- Reaver -
Brute force attack against WiFi Protected Setup.
- WiFi Pineapple -
Wireless auditing and penetration testing platform.
- WiFi-Pumpkin -
Framework for rogue Wi-Fi access point attack.
- Wifite - Automated
wireless attack tool.
- infernal-twin -
Automated wireless hacking tool.
- krackattacks-scripts
- WPA2 Krack attack scripts.
- pwnagotchi -
Deep reinforcement learning based AI that learns from the Wi-Fi
environment and instruments BetterCAP in order to maximize the WPA key
material captured.
- wifi-arsenal -
Resources for Wi-Fi Pentesting.
Network Vulnerability
Scanners
- celerystalk -
Asynchronous enumeration and vulnerability scanner that “runs all the
tools on all the hosts” in a configurable manner.
- kube-hunter -
Open-source tool that runs a set of tests (“hunters”) for security
issues in Kubernetes clusters from either outside (“attacker’s view”) or
inside a cluster.
- Nessus
- Commercial vulnerability management, configuration, and compliance
assessment platform, sold by Tenable.
- Netsparker Application
Security Scanner - Application security scanner to automatically
find security flaws.
- Nexpose -
Commercial vulnerability and risk management assessment engine that
integrates with Metasploit, sold by Rapid7.
- OpenVAS - Free software
implementation of the popular Nessus vulnerability assessment
system.
- Vuls -
Agentless vulnerability scanner for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD, written in
Go.
Web Vulnerability Scanners
- ACSTIS
- Automated client-side template injection (sandbox escape/bypass)
detection for AngularJS.
- Arachni - Scriptable
framework for evaluating the security of web applications.
- JCS - Joomla
Vulnerability Component Scanner with automatic database updater from
exploitdb and packetstorm.
- Nikto - Noisy but fast black
box web server and web application vulnerability scanner.
- SQLmate -
Friend of
sqlmap that identifies SQLi vulnerabilities based
on a given dork and (optional) website.
- SecApps - In-browser web
application security testing suite.
- WPScan - Black box WordPress
vulnerability scanner.
- Wapiti - Black box web
application vulnerability scanner with built-in fuzzer.
- WebReaver - Commercial,
graphical web application vulnerability scanner designed for macOS.
- cms-explorer
- Reveal the specific modules, plugins, components and themes that
various websites powered by content management systems are running.
- joomscan
- Joomla vulnerability scanner.
- skipfish -
Performant and adaptable active web application security reconnaissance
tool.
- w3af - Web
application attack and audit framework.
- nuclei -
Fast and customizable vulnerability scanner based on simple YAML based
DSL.
Online Resources
Online Operating Systems
Resources
Online Penetration Testing
Resources
Other Lists Online
- .NET
Programming - Software framework for Microsoft Windows platform
development.
- Infosec/hacking videos
recorded by cooper - Collection of security conferences recorded by
Cooper.
- Android
Exploits - Guide on Android Exploitation and Hacks.
- Android
Security - Collection of Android security related resources.
- AppSec -
Resources for learning about application security.
- Awesome
Awesomeness - The List of the Lists.
- Awesome
Malware - Curated collection of awesome malware, botnets, and other
post-exploitation tools.
- Awesome
Shodan Queries - Awesome list of useful, funny, and depressing
search queries for Shodan.
- Awesome
Censys Queries - A collection of fascinating and bizarre Censys
Search Queries.
- AWS
Tool Arsenal - List of tools for testing and securing AWS
environments.
- Blue
Team - Awesome resources, tools, and other shiny things for
cybersecurity blue teams.
- C/C++
Programming - One of the main language for open source security
tools.
- CTFs - Capture
The Flag frameworks, libraries, etc.
- Forensics -
Free (mostly open source) forensic analysis tools and resources.
- Hacking -
Tutorials, tools, and resources.
- Honeypots
- Honeypots, tools, components, and more.
- InfoSec
§ Hacking challenges - Comprehensive directory of CTFs, wargames,
hacking challenge websites, pentest practice lab exercises, and
more.
- Infosec -
Information security resources for pentesting, forensics, and more.
- JavaScript
Programming - In-browser development and scripting.
- Kali Linux Tools -
List of tools present in Kali Linux.
- Node.js
Programming by @sindresorhus - Curated list of
delightful Node.js packages and resources.
- Pentest
Cheat Sheets - Awesome Pentest Cheat Sheets.
- Python Programming
by @svaksha -
General Python programming.
- Python Programming
by @vinta - General
Python programming.
- Python tools
for penetration testers - Lots of pentesting tools are written in
Python.
- Rawsec’s CyberSecurity
Inventory - An open-source inventory of tools, resources, CTF
platforms and Operating Systems about CyberSecurity. (Source)
- Red
Teaming - List of Awesome Red Teaming Resources.
- Ruby Programming
by @Sdogruyol -
The de-facto language for writing exploits.
- Ruby
Programming by @dreikanter - The de-facto language
for writing exploits.
- Ruby Programming
by @markets - The
de-facto language for writing exploits.
- SecLists -
Collection of multiple types of lists used during security
assessments.
- SecTools - Top 125 Network
Security Tools.
- Security
Talks - Curated list of security conferences.
- Security -
Software, libraries, documents, and other resources.
- Serverless
Security - Curated list of awesome serverless security resources
such as (e)books, articles, whitepapers, blogs and research papers.
- Shell
Scripting - Command line frameworks, toolkits, guides and
gizmos.
- YARA - YARA
rules, tools, and people.
Penetration Testing Report
Templates
Open Sources Intelligence
(OSINT)
See also awesome-osint.
- DataSploit -
OSINT visualizer utilizing Shodan, Censys, Clearbit, EmailHunter,
FullContact, and Zoomeye behind the scenes.
- Depix - Tool
for recovering passwords from pixelized screenshots (by de-pixelating
text).
- GyoiThon -
GyoiThon is an Intelligence Gathering tool using Machine Learning.
- Intrigue - Automated OSINT &
Attack Surface discovery framework with powerful API, UI and CLI.
- Maltego - Proprietary software
for open sources intelligence and forensics.
- PacketTotal - Simple, free,
high-quality packet capture file analysis facilitating the quick
detection of network-borne malware (using Zeek and Suricata IDS
signatures under the hood).
- Skiptracer -
OSINT scraping framework that utilizes basic Python webscraping
(BeautifulSoup) of PII paywall sites to compile passive information on a
target on a ramen noodle budget.
- Sn1per - Automated
Pentest Recon Scanner.
- Spiderfoot - Multi-source
OSINT automation tool with a Web UI and report visualizations.
- creepy -
Geolocation OSINT tool.
- gOSINT - OSINT tool
with multiple modules and a telegram scraper.
- image-match -
Quickly search over billions of images.
- recon-ng -
Full-featured Web Reconnaissance framework written in Python.
- sn0int -
Semi-automatic OSINT framework and package manager.
- Keyscope - An
extensible key and secret validation for auditing active secrets against
multiple SaaS vendors.
- Facebook
Friend List Scraper - Tool to scrape names and usernames from large
friend lists on Facebook, without being rate limited.
Data Broker and Search
Engine Services
- Hunter.io - Data broker providing a
Web search interface for discovering the email addresses and other
organizational details of a company.
- Threat Crowd - Search
engine for threats.
- Virus Total - Free service
that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the quick
detection of viruses, worms, trojans, and all kinds of malware.
- surfraw - Fast UNIX
command line interface to a variety of popular WWW search engines.
- BinGoo -
GNU/Linux bash based Bing and Google Dorking Tool.
- dorkbot -
Command-line tool to scan Google (or other) search results for
vulnerabilities.
- github-dorks
- CLI tool to scan GitHub repos/organizations for potential sensitive
information leaks.
- GooDork -
Command line Google dorking tool.
- Google
Hacking Database - Database of Google dorks; can be used for
recon.
- dork-cli - Command
line Google dork tool.
- dorks - Google hack
database automation tool.
- fast-recon
- Perform Google dorks against a domain.
- pagodo - Automate
Google Hacking Database scraping.
- snitch - Information
gathering via dorks.
- SimplyEmail -
Email recon made fast and easy.
- WhatBreach -
Search email addresses and discover all known breaches that this email
has been seen in, and download the breached database if it is publicly
available.
- Censys - Collects data on hosts
and websites through daily ZMap and ZGrab scans.
- Shodan - World’s first search
engine for Internet-connected devices.
- ZoomEye - Search engine for
cyberspace that lets the user find specific network components.
OSINT Online Resources
- CertGraph - Crawls
a domain’s SSL/TLS certificates for its certificate alternative
names.
- GhostProject - Searchable
database of billions of cleartext passwords, partially visible for
free.
- NetBootcamp OSINT
Tools - Collection of OSINT links and custom Web interfaces to other
services.
- OSINT Framework -
Collection of various OSINT tools broken out by category.
- WiGLE.net - Information about
wireless networks world-wide, with user-friendly desktop and web
applications.
See also Web-accessible source
code ripping tools.
- vcsmap -
Plugin-based tool to scan public version control systems for sensitive
information.
- Yar - Clone git
repositories to search through the whole commit history in order of
commit time for secrets, tokens, or passwords.
- BlindElephant -
Web application fingerprinter.
- EyeWitness
- Tool to take screenshots of websites, provide some server header info,
and identify default credentials if possible.
- GraphQL
Voyager - Represent any GraphQL API as an interactive graph, letting
you explore data models from any Web site with a GraphQL query
endpoint.
- VHostScan -
Virtual host scanner that performs reverse lookups, can be used with
pivot tools, detect catch-all scenarios, aliases and dynamic default
pages.
- Wappalyzer - Wappalyzer
uncovers the technologies used on websites.
- WhatWaf - Detect
and bypass web application firewalls and protection systems.
- WhatWeb -
Website fingerprinter.
- wafw00f -
Identifies and fingerprints Web Application Firewall (WAF)
products.
- webscreenshot
- Simple script to take screenshots of websites from a list of
sites.
Operating System
Distributions
- Android Tamer - Distribution
built for Android security professionals that includes tools required
for Android security testing.
- ArchStrike - Arch GNU/Linux
repository for security professionals and enthusiasts.
- AttifyOS -
GNU/Linux distribution focused on tools useful during Internet of Things
(IoT) security assessments.
- BlackArch - Arch
GNU/Linux-based distribution for penetration testers and security
researchers.
- Buscador -
GNU/Linux virtual machine that is pre-configured for online
investigators.
- Kali - Rolling Debian-based
GNU/Linux distribution designed for penetration testing and digital
forensics.
- Network Security
Toolkit (NST) - Fedora-based GNU/Linux bootable live Operating
System designed to provide easy access to best-of-breed open source
network security applications.
- Parrot - Distribution similar
to Kali, with support for multiple hardware architectures.
- PentestBox - Open source
pre-configured portable penetration testing environment for the Windows
Operating System.
- The Pentesters
Framework - Distro organized around the Penetration Testing
Execution Standard (PTES), providing a curated collection of utilities
that omits less frequently used utilities.
Periodicals
- AT Commands - Use AT commands
over an Android device’s USB port to rewrite device firmware, bypass
security mechanisms, exfiltrate sensitive information, perform screen
unlocks, and inject touch events.
- Bash Bunny -
Local exploit delivery tool in the form of a USB thumbdrive in which you
write payloads in a DSL called BunnyScript.
- LAN Turtle - Covert “USB
Ethernet Adapter” that provides remote access, network intelligence
gathering, and MITM capabilities when installed in a local network.
- PCILeech - Uses
PCIe hardware devices to read and write from the target system memory
via Direct Memory Access (DMA) over PCIe.
- Packet
Squirrel - Ethernet multi-tool designed to enable covert remote
access, painless packet captures, and secure VPN connections with the
flip of a switch.
- Poisontap - Siphons
cookies, exposes internal (LAN-side) router and installs web backdoor on
locked computers.
- Proxmark3 - RFID/NFC cloning,
replay, and spoofing toolkit often used for analyzing and attacking
proximity cards/readers, wireless keys/keyfobs, and more.
- Thunderclap - Open source I/O
security research platform for auditing physical DMA-enabled hardware
peripheral ports.
- USB Rubber Ducky -
Customizable keystroke injection attack platform masquerading as a USB
thumbdrive.
- Active Directory
and Privilege Escalation (ADAPE) - Umbrella script that automates
numerous useful PowerShell modules to discover security
misconfigurations and attempt privilege escalation against Active
Directory.
- GTFOBins - Curated list of
Unix binaries that can be used to bypass local security restrictions in
misconfigured systems.
- LOLBAS (Living Off The
Land Binaries and Scripts) - Documents binaries, scripts, and
libraries that can be used for “Living Off The Land” techniques, i.e.,
binaries that can be used by an attacker to perform actions beyond their
original purpose.
- LinEnum -
Scripted local Linux enumeration and privilege escalation checker useful
for auditing a host and during CTF gaming.
- Postenum - Shell
script used for enumerating possible privilege escalation opportunities
on a local GNU/Linux system.
- unix-privesc-check
- Shell script to check for simple privilege escalation vectors on UNIX
systems.
- DomainPasswordSpray
- Tool written in PowerShell to perform a password spray attack against
users of a domain.
- SprayingToolkit
- Scripts to make password spraying attacks against Lync/S4B, Outlook
Web Access (OWA) and Office 365 (O365) a lot quicker, less painful and
more efficient.
Reverse Engineering
See also awesome-reversing,
Exploit Development
Tools.
Reverse Engineering Books
- angr - Platform-agnostic binary
analysis framework.
- Capstone - Lightweight
multi-platform, multi-architecture disassembly framework.
- Detect It
Easy(DiE) - Program for determining types of files for Windows,
Linux and MacOS.
- Evan’s
Debugger - OllyDbg-like debugger for GNU/Linux.
- Frida - Dynamic instrumentation
toolkit for developers, reverse-engineers, and security
researchers.
- Fridax - Read
variables and intercept/hook functions in Xamarin/Mono JIT and AOT
compiled iOS/Android applications.
- Ghidra - Suite of free
software reverse engineering tools developed by NSA’s Research
Directorate originally exposed in WikiLeaks’s “Vault 7” publication and
now maintained as open source software.
- Immunity
Debugger - Powerful way to write exploits and analyze malware.
- Interactive
Disassembler (IDA Pro) - Proprietary multi-processor disassembler
and debugger for Windows, GNU/Linux, or macOS; also has a free version,
IDA
Free.
- Medusa - Open source,
cross-platform interactive disassembler.
- OllyDbg - x86 debugger for
Windows binaries that emphasizes binary code analysis.
- PyREBox -
Python scriptable Reverse Engineering sandbox by Cisco-Talos.
- Radare2 - Open source,
crossplatform reverse engineering framework.
- UEFITool - UEFI
firmware image viewer and editor.
- Voltron - Extensible
debugger UI toolkit written in Python.
- WDK/WinDbg
- Windows Driver Kit and WinDbg.
- binwalk - Fast,
easy to use tool for analyzing, reverse engineering, and extracting
firmware images.
- boxxy - Linkable
sandbox explorer.
- dnSpy - Tool to reverse
engineer .NET assemblies.
- plasma - Interactive
disassembler for x86/ARM/MIPS. Generates indented pseudo-code with
colored syntax code.
- pwndbg - GDB plug-in
that eases debugging with GDB, with a focus on features needed by
low-level software developers, hardware hackers, reverse-engineers, and
exploit developers.
- rVMI - Debugger on
steroids; inspect userspace processes, kernel drivers, and preboot
environments in a single tool.
- x64dbg - Open source x64/x32
debugger for windows.
Security Education Courses
Shellcoding Guides and
Tutorials
- ChipWhisperer - Complete
open-source toolchain for side-channel power analysis and glitching
attacks.
- SGX-Step -
Open-source framework to facilitate side-channel attack research on
Intel x86 processors in general and Intel SGX (Software Guard
Extensions) platforms in particular.
- TRRespass -
Many-sided rowhammer tool suite able to reverse engineer the contents of
DDR3 and DDR4 memory chips protected by Target Row Refresh
mitigations.
Social Engineering
See also awesome-social-engineering.
Social Engineering Books
Social Engineering Online
Resources
- Beelogger - Tool
for generating keylooger.
- Catphish - Tool
for phishing and corporate espionage written in Ruby.
- Evilginx2 -
Standalone Machine-in-the-Middle (MitM) reverse proxy attack framework
for setting up phishing pages capable of defeating most forms of 2FA
security schemes.
- FiercePhish -
Full-fledged phishing framework to manage all phishing engagements.
- GitPhish -
GitHub Device Code phishing security assessment tool with dynamic
device-code generation and automated landing page deployment.
- Gophish - Open-source phishing
framework.
- King
Phisher - Phishing campaign toolkit used for creating and managing
multiple simultaneous phishing attacks with custom email and server
content.
- Modlishka -
Flexible and powerful reverse proxy with real-time two-factor
authentication.
- ReelPhish -
Real-time two-factor phishing tool.
- Social
Engineer Toolkit (SET) - Open source pentesting framework designed
for social engineering featuring a number of custom attack vectors to
make believable attacks quickly.
- SocialFish -
Social media phishing framework that can run on an Android phone or in a
Docker container.
- phishery -
TLS/SSL enabled Basic Auth credential harvester.
- wifiphisher -
Automated phishing attacks against WiFi networks.
Static Analyzers
- Brakeman -
Static analysis security vulnerability scanner for Ruby on Rails
applications.
- FindBugs - Free
software static analyzer to look for bugs in Java code.
- Progpilot
- Static security analysis tool for PHP code.
- RegEx-DoS -
Analyzes source code for Regular Expressions susceptible to Denial of
Service attacks.
- bandit - Security
oriented static analyser for Python code.
- cppcheck - Extensible
C/C++ static analyzer focused on finding bugs.
- sobelow -
Security-focused static analysis for the Phoenix Framework.
- cwe_checker -
Suite of tools built atop the Binary Analysis Platform (BAP) to
heuristically detect CWEs in compiled binaries and firmware.
- Agentic Radar
- Open-source CLI security scanner for agentic AI workflows.
- Cloakify -
Textual steganography toolkit that converts any filetype into lists of
everyday strings.
- StegOnline -
Web-based, enhanced, and open-source port of StegSolve.
- StegCracker -
Steganography brute-force utility to uncover hidden data inside
files.
Vulnerability Databases
- Bugtraq (BID) -
Software security bug identification database compiled from submissions
to the SecurityFocus mailing list and other sources, operated by
Symantec, Inc.
- CISA
Known Vulnerabilities Database (KEV) - Vulnerabilities in various
systems already known to America’s cyber defense agency, the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to be actively
exploited.
- CXSecurity - Archive of
published CVE and Bugtraq software vulnerabilities cross-referenced with
a Google dork database for discovering the listed vulnerability.
- China National Vulnerability
Database (CNNVD) - Chinese government-run vulnerability database
analoguous to the United States’s CVE database hosted by Mitre
Corporation.
- Common Vulnerabilities and
Exposures (CVE) - Dictionary of common names (i.e., CVE Identifiers)
for publicly known security vulnerabilities.
- Exploit-DB - Non-profit
project hosting exploits for software vulnerabilities, provided as a
public service by Offensive Security.
- Full-Disclosure -
Public, vendor-neutral forum for detailed discussion of vulnerabilities,
often publishes details before many other sources.
- GitHub Advisories -
Public vulnerability advisories published by or affecting codebases
hosted by GitHub, including open source projects.
- HPI-VDB - Aggregator of
cross-referenced software vulnerabilities offering free-of-charge API
access, provided by the Hasso-Plattner Institute, Potsdam.
- Inj3ct0r - Exploit marketplace
and vulnerability information aggregator. (Onion service.)
- Microsoft
Security Advisories and Bulletins - Archive and announcements of
security advisories impacting Microsoft software, published by the
Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC).
- Mozilla
Foundation Security Advisories - Archive of security advisories
impacting Mozilla software, including the Firefox Web Browser.
- National Vulnerability Database
(NVD) - United States government’s National Vulnerability Database
provides additional meta-data (CPE, CVSS scoring) of the standard CVE
List along with a fine-grained search engine.
- Open Source Vulnerabilities (OSV) -
Database of vulnerabilities affecting open source software, queryable by
project, Git commit, or version.
- Packet Storm -
Compendium of exploits, advisories, tools, and other security-related
resources aggregated from across the industry.
- SecuriTeam - Independent
source of software vulnerability information.
- Snyk Vulnerability DB - Detailed
information and remediation guidance for vulnerabilities known by
Snyk.
- US-CERT Vulnerability Notes
Database - Summaries, technical details, remediation information,
and lists of vendors affected by software vulnerabilities, aggregated by
the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT).
- VulDB - Independent vulnerability
database with user community, exploit details, and additional meta data
(e.g. CPE, CVSS, CWE)
- Vulnerability Lab -
Open forum for security advisories organized by category of exploit
target.
- Vulners - Security database of
software vulnerabilities.
- Vulmon - Vulnerability search
engine with vulnerability intelligence features that conducts full text
searches in its database.
- Zero
Day Initiative - Bug bounty program with publicly accessible archive
of published security advisories, operated by TippingPoint.
Web Exploitation
- FuzzDB -
Dictionary of attack patterns and primitives for black-box application
fault injection and resource discovery.
- Offensive Web
Testing Framework (OWTF) - Python-based framework for pentesting Web
applications based on the OWASP Testing Guide.
- Raccoon - High
performance offensive security tool for reconnaissance and vulnerability
scanning.
- WPSploit - Exploit
WordPress-powered websites with Metasploit.
- autochrome
- Chrome browser profile preconfigured with appropriate settings needed
for web application testing.
- authoscope -
Scriptable network authentication cracker.
- gobuster - Lean
multipurpose brute force search/fuzzing tool for Web (and DNS)
reconnaissance.
- sslstrip2 -
SSLStrip version to defeat HSTS.
- sslstrip -
Demonstration of the HTTPS stripping attacks.
Intercepting Web proxies
See also Proxies and
Machine-in-the-Middle (MITM) Tools.
- Burp Suite - Integrated
platform for performing security testing of web applications.
- Fiddler - Free
cross-platform web debugging proxy with user-friendly companion
tools.
- OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP)
- Feature-rich, scriptable HTTP intercepting proxy and fuzzer for
penetration testing web applications.
- mitmproxy - Interactive
TLS-capable intercepting HTTP proxy for penetration testers and software
developers.
- Kadimus - LFI scan
and exploit tool.
- LFISuite -
Automatic LFI scanner and exploiter.
- fimap - Find,
prepare, audit, exploit and even Google automatically for LFI/RFI
bugs.
- liffy - LFI
exploitation tool.
- Commix -
Automated all-in-one operating system command injection and exploitation
tool.
- NoSQLmap -
Automatic NoSQL injection and database takeover tool.
- SQLmap - Automatic SQL injection
and database takeover tool.
- tplmap - Automatic
server-side template injection and Web server takeover tool.
Web shells and C2 frameworks
- Browser Exploitation
Framework (BeEF) - Command and control server for delivering
exploits to commandeered Web browsers.
- DAws - Advanced Web
shell.
- Merlin -
Cross-platform post-exploitation HTTP/2 Command and Control server and
agent written in Golang.
- PhpSploit -
Full-featured C2 framework which silently persists on webserver via evil
PHP oneliner.
- SharPyShell
- Tiny and obfuscated ASP.NET webshell for C# web applications.
- weevely3 -
Weaponized PHP-based web shell.
- DVCS Ripper - Rip
web accessible (distributed) version control systems:
SVN/GIT/HG/BZR.
- GitTools -
Automatically find and download Web-accessible
.git
repositories.
- git-dumper -
Tool to dump a git repository from a website.
- git-scanner
- Tool for bug hunting or pentesting websites that have open
.git repositories available in public.
Web Exploitation Books
Windows Utilities
- Bloodhound
- Graphical Active Directory trust relationship explorer.
- Commando VM -
Automated installation of over 140 Windows software packages for
penetration testing and red teaming.
- Covenant - ASP.NET
Core application that serves as a collaborative command and control
platform for red teamers.
- ctftool -
Interactive Collaborative Translation Framework (CTF) exploration tool
capable of launching cross-session edit session attacks.
- DeathStar -
Python script that uses Empire’s RESTful API to automate gaining Domain
Admin rights in Active Directory environments.
- Empire - Pure
PowerShell post-exploitation agent.
- Fibratus -
Tool for exploration and tracing of the Windows kernel.
- Inveigh -
Windows PowerShell ADIDNS/LLMNR/mDNS/NBNS spoofer/machine-in-the-middle
tool.
- LaZagne -
Credentials recovery project.
- MailSniper -
Modular tool for searching through email in a Microsoft Exchange
environment, gathering the Global Address List from Outlook Web Access
(OWA) and Exchange Web Services (EWS), and more.
- PowerSploit -
PowerShell Post-Exploitation Framework.
- RID_ENUM -
Python script that can enumerate all users from a Windows Domain
Controller and crack those user’s passwords using brute-force.
- Responder -
Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR), NBT-NS, and mDNS
poisoner.
- Rubeus - Toolset
for raw Kerberos interaction and abuses.
- Ruler - Abuses
client-side Outlook features to gain a remote shell on a Microsoft
Exchange server.
- SCOMDecrypt -
Retrieve and decrypt RunAs credentials stored within Microsoft System
Center Operations Manager (SCOM) databases.
- Sysinternals
Suite - The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities.
- Windows
Credentials Editor - Inspect logon sessions and add, change, list,
and delete associated credentials, including Kerberos tickets.
- Windows
Exploit Suggester - Detects potential missing patches on the
target.
- mimikatz -
Credentials extraction tool for Windows operating system.
- redsnarf -
Post-exploitation tool for retrieving password hashes and credentials
from Windows workstations, servers, and domain controllers.
- wePWNise -
Generates architecture independent VBA code to be used in Office
documents or templates and automates bypassing application control and
exploit mitigation software.
- WinPwn -
Internal penetration test script to perform local and domain
reconnaissance, privilege escalation and exploitation.
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.
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