{
  "port": 992,
  "protocol": "tcp",
  "service": "Telnets (Telnet over TLS)",
  "oneLiner": "Telnet wrapped in TLS — registered, sporadically implemented, and still Telnet underneath.",
  "whatItIs": "IANA registers 992 as telnets: a Telnet session where TLS is negotiated the moment the connection opens, instead of in-band. No IETF standard defines it — the in-band route, Telnet START_TLS, never got past a draft — so support is vendor-specific and turns up mostly on IBM i systems, terminal servers, and network appliances. It is rare on scans, and much rarer than cleartext Telnet on 23. Encrypted transport or not, what waits at the far end is a login prompt on a device that predates SSH support.",
  "exposure": {
    "verdict": "careful",
    "note": "The session is encrypted, which is the whole point, but this is still interactive administrative access over a legacy protocol with no standard behind this port. Use SSH where the device supports it and keep 992 on a management network otherwise."
  },
  "checkCommand": "openssl s_client -connect TARGET:992 -quiet",
  "links": [
    {
      "title": "RFC 854 — Telnet Protocol Specification",
      "url": "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc854.html",
      "kind": "spec"
    },
    {
      "title": "IANA port registry — 992",
      "url": "https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml?search=992",
      "kind": "iana"
    }
  ],
  "ianaName": "telnets"
}