# WHATPORT(85)

## NAME

port 85 — MIT ML Device — A 1980s MIT registration (`mit-ml-dev`) with no modern use.

Protocol: TCP  
IANA registry

## DESCRIPTION

IANA lists port 85 as `mit-ml-dev`, "MIT ML Device", registered by David Reed in the era when MIT lab machines were handed blocks of the low port range. There is no specification and no current implementation. The name survives only in `/etc/services` and in scanner output. Anything you actually find listening on 85 is a squatter — most often a second HTTP service placed near 80.

## EXPOSURE

**Expose with care.** The registration tells you nothing about what is really there; identify the listener before exposing it.

## CHECK

```sh
curl -sv --max-time 5 http://TARGET:85/
```

## SEE ALSO

- iana — [IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry](https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml) (iana.org)

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HTML: <https://whatport.net/85/> · JSON: <https://whatport.net/85.json> · full dataset: <https://whatport.net/ports.json>