# WHATPORT(992)

## NAME

port 992 — Telnets (Telnet over TLS) — Telnet wrapped in TLS — registered, sporadically implemented, and still Telnet underneath.

Protocol: TCP  
IANA: telnets

## DESCRIPTION

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

**Expose with care.** 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.

## CHECK

```sh
openssl s_client -connect TARGET:992 -quiet
```

## SEE ALSO

- spec — [RFC 854 — Telnet Protocol Specification](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc854.html) (rfc-editor.org)
- iana — [IANA port registry — 992](https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml?search=992) (iana.org)

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HTML: <https://whatport.net/992/> · JSON: <https://whatport.net/992.json> · full dataset: <https://whatport.net/ports.json>