A CIM object manager's cleartext port — hardware and system management over CIM-XML.
IANA registers 5988 as wbem-http, the default port for CIM Operations over HTTP (DMTF DSP0200), where XML-encoded CIM method calls are POSTed to a CIM object manager. Real listeners are SFCB, OpenPegasus, and the CIM providers embedded in server hardware and hypervisors — this is how vendor tools read fan speeds, PSU state, and RAID health. On SUSE's SFCB the HTTP port is disabled by default (enableHttp is false) and documented as a debugging aid only, which tells you how the maintainers view it.
Do not expose
CIM-XML over plain HTTP authenticates with HTTP Basic, so credentials for a hardware management interface cross the wire in cleartext. Use 5989 instead, and keep both on a management network.
$ curl -si -m 5 http://TARGET:5988/cimom | head -1Seen this on your network? Beige Box scans your Wi-Fi and shows every open port on every device — and its Ports tool links straight back here.
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