WHATPORT(119) whatport.net WHATPORT(119)
119

NNTP

Usenet news transport and reading — NNTP in the clear, with NNTPS on 563.

TCP IANA registry

Description

NNTP, current spec RFC 3977, moves Usenet articles between news servers and serves readers with commands like GROUP, ARTICLE and POST over a line-oriented text session. INN and Diablo are the common server implementations, and commercial Usenet providers still run large farms of them. Port 119 is the cleartext port; TLS-wrapped NNTPS lives on 563 and is what providers push clients toward. Seeing 119 open usually means a real news server or a peering endpoint, not an accident.

Exposed to the internet?

Expose with care

Public read-only news service on 119 is fine by design, but any authenticated feed or posting account should be on 563 so credentials are not sent in the clear.

Check it yourself

$ printf 'QUIT\r\n' | nc -v TARGET 119

See also

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