Linux show what ports are in use

How do I check if a port is in use on Linux?

I am a new Linux system user. I need to find out which process is listening on a port on Linux using the command line. How do you find out which process is listening on a port on Linux operating systems?

A network port in Linux is nothing but a number that identifies one side of a connection between two systems. All networked devices use port numbers to determine to which process a message should be delivered. The domain name and IP address are like a street address, and port numbers are like room numbers.

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Linux
Est. reading time	2 minutes

Popular port numbers in Linux

• HTTP – TCP 80
• HTTPS – TCP 443
• POP3 – TCP 110
• SMTP – TCP 25
• SSH – TCP 22
• DNS/DOMAIN – TCP/UDP 53

Use the cat command or grep command/egrep command to query port numbers as follows:
cat /etc/services
grep -w 80 /etc/services
egrep -w ’53/(tcp|udp)’ /etc/services

How to check if a port is in use on Linux

The procedure is as follows:

1. Open the terminal application on Linux.
2. Type any one of the following command to check if a port is in use on Linux
   sudo lsof -i -P -n | grep LISTEN
   sudo netstat -tulpn | grep LISTEN
   sudo netstat -tulpn | grep :443
   sudo ss -tulpn | grep LISTEN
   sudo ss -tulpn | grep ‘:22’
3. Search for the TCP or UDP port description in /etc/services file on Linux:
   grep -E -w ‘PORT_NUMBER_HERE/(tcp|udp)’ /etc/services

Let us see some examples and sample commands in details.

How can you find out which process is listening on a port on Linux

Type the ss command or netstat command to see if a TCP port 443 is in use on Linux?
sudo netstat -tulpn | grep :443
sudo ss -tulpn | grep :443
If a port is open, you should see the output as follows:

The port 443 is in use and opened by nginx service. Where,

• -t : Display TCP sockets/port
• -u : Show UDP sockets/port
• -l : See only listening sockets i.e. open port
• -p : Also display process name that opened port/socket
• -n : View addresses and port numbers in numerical format. Do not use DNS to resolve names.

Getting a list of all open port in production

Simply run:
sudo lsof -i -P -n | grep LISTEN
sudo ss -tulpn
sudo netstat -tulpn
Sample outputs:

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Linux Find Out Which Process Is Listening Upon a Port

Linux Find Out Which Process Is Listening Upon a Port

You can the following programs to find out about port numbers and its associated process:

1. netstat command or ss command – a command-line tool that displays network connections, routing tables, and a number of network interface statistics.
2. fuser command – a command line tool to identify processes using files or sockets.
3. lsof command – a command line tool to list open files under Linux / UNIX to report a list of all open files and the processes that opened them.
4. /proc/$pid/ file system – Under Linux /proc includes a directory for each running process (including kernel processes) at /proc/PID, containing information about that process, notably including the processes name that opened port.

You must run above command(s) as the root user.

Linux netstat command find out which process is listing upon a port

Type the following command:
# netstat -tulpn
Sample outputs:

TCP port 3306 was opened by mysqld process having PID # 1138. You can verify this using /proc, enter:
# ls -l /proc/1138/exe
Sample outputs:

You can use grep command or egrep command to filter out information:
# netstat -tulpn | grep :80
Sample outputs:

A note about ss command

Some Linux distro considered the nestat command as deprecated and therefore should be phased out in favor of more modern replacements such as ss command. The syntax is:
$ sudo ss -tulpn
$ sudo ss -tulpn | grep :3306

Click to enlarge image

Video demo

fuser command

Find out the processes PID that opened tcp port 7000, enter:
# fuser 7000/tcp
Sample outputs:

Finally, find out process name associated with PID # 3813, enter:
# ls -l /proc/3813/exe
Sample outputs:

/usr/bin/transmission is a bittorrent client, enter:
# man transmission
OR
# whatis transmission
Sample outputs:

Find Out Current Working Directory Of a Process

To find out current working directory of a process called bittorrent or pid 3813, enter:
# ls -l /proc/3813/cwd
Sample outputs:

OR use pwdx command, enter:
# pwdx 3813
Sample outputs:

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Find Out Owner Of a Process on Linux

Use the following command to find out the owner of a process PID called 3813:
# ps aux | grep 3813
OR
# ps aux | grep ‘[3]813’
Sample outputs:

OR try the following ps command:
# ps -eo pid,user,group,args,etime,lstart | grep ‘[3]813’
Sample outputs:

Another option is /proc/$PID/environ, enter:
# cat /proc/3813/environ
OR
# grep —color -w -a USER /proc/3813/environ
Sample outputs (note –colour option):

Fig.01: grep output

lsof Command Example

Type the command as follows:

Now, you get more information about pid # 1607 or 1616 and so on:
# ps aux | grep ‘[1]616’
Sample outputs:
www-data 1616 0.0 0.0 35816 3880 ? S 10:20 0:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
I recommend the following command to grab info about pid # 1616:
# ps -eo pid,user,group,args,etime,lstart | grep ‘[1]616’
Sample outputs:

• 1616 : PID
• www-date : User name (owner – EUID)
• www-date : Group name (group – EGID)
• /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start : The command name and its args
• 03:16:22 : Elapsed time since the process was started, in the form [[dd-]hh:]mm:ss.
• Fri Oct 29 10:20:17 2010 : Time the command started.

Help: I Discover an Open Port Which I Don’t Recognize At All

The file /etc/services is used to map port numbers and protocols to service names. Try matching port numbers:
$ grep port /etc/services
$ grep 443 /etc/services
Sample outputs:

Check For rootkit

I strongly recommend that you find out which processes are really running, especially servers connected to the high speed Internet access. You can look for rootkit which is a program designed to take fundamental control (in Linux / UNIX terms “root” access, in Windows terms “Administrator” access) of a computer system, without authorization by the system’s owners and legitimate managers. See how to detecting / checking rootkits under Linux.

Keep an Eye On Your Bandwidth Graphs

Usually, rooted servers are used to send a large number of spam or malware or DoS style attacks on other computers.

Conlcusion

You learned various Linux commands to find information about running process and their ports. See the following man pages for more information:
$ man ps
$ man grep
$ man lsof
$ man netstat
$ man fuser

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4 Ways to Find Out What Ports Are Listening in Linux

The state of a port is either open, filtered, closed, or unfiltered. A port is said to be open if an application on the target machine is listening for connections/packets on that port.

In this article, we will explain four ways to check open ports and also will show you how to find which application is listening on what port in Linux.

1. Using Netstat Command

Netstat is a widely used tool for querying information about the Linux networking subsystem. You can use it to print all open ports like this:

The flag -l tells netstat to print all listening sockets, -t shows all TCP connections, -u displays all UDP connections and -p enables printing of application/program name listening on the port.

Check Open Ports Using Netstat Command

To print numeric values rather than service names, add the -n flag.

Show Numeric Values

You can also use grep command to find out which application is listening on a particular port, for example.

Find Port of Running Application

Alternatively, you can specify the port and find the application bound to, as shown.

Find Application Using a Port Number

2. Using ss Command

ss command is another useful tool for displaying information about sockets. It’s output looks similar to that of netstat. The following command will show all listening ports for TCP and UDP connections in numeric value.

Find Open Ports Using ss Command

3. Using Nmap Command

Nmap is a powerful and popular network exploration tool and port scanner. To install nmap on your system, use your default package manager as shown.

To scan all open/listening ports in your Linux system, run the following command (which should take a long time to complete).

4. Using lsof Command

The final tool we will cover for querying open ports is lsof command, which is used to list open files in Linux. Since everything is a file in Unix/Linux, an open file may be a stream or a network file.

To list all Internet and network files, use the -i option. Note that this command shows a mix of service names and numeric ports.

List Open Network Files Using lsof Command

To find which application is listening on a particular port, run lsof in this form.

Find Application Using Port

That’s all! In this article, we have explained four ways to check open ports in Linux. We also showed how to check which processes are bound upon particular ports. You can share your thoughts or ask any questions via the feedback form below.

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How to Check Which Ports Are in Use on Your Linux System

One step in securing a Linux computer system is identifying which ports are active. Your system’s active ports give you information about which outside applications may be connected to your system. You can also discover if you are unintentionally exposing an application or service to the internet, like a MySQL database. There are several Linux tools that help you discover which ports are in use and identify both ends of active communications. This guide introduces three common tools you can use find the active ports on your Linux server or computer with links to guides that dive deeper into each tool.

What is a Port in Computer Networking?

Service names and port numbers are used to distinguish between different services that run over transport protocols. Common transport protocols are TCP, UDP, DCCP, and SCTP. These protocols enable communication between applications by establishing a connection and ensuring data is transmitted successfully. Well-known port assignments, such as HTTP at port 80 over TCP and UDP, are listed at the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry. These port assignments help distinguish different types of network traffic across the same connection.

Which Linux System Ports Are in Use?

Three tools to help you check ports in use on a Linux system are:

• netstat: This tool shows your server’s network status.
• ss: You can view socket statistics with the ss tool. For example, ss allows you to monitor TCP, UDP, and UNIX sockets.
• lsof: This Linux utility lists open files. Since everything on a Linux system can be considered a file, lsof provides a lot of information on your entire system.

Using netstat

This tool is great for inspecting the following areas of your Linux system:

• Unix sockets and network connections
• Routing tables
• Network interfaces
• Network protocols
• Multicast group membership

Running netstat without any options displays all open sockets and network connections, which can generate a lot of output. You can control the output using netstat’s command-line options. For example, to view the PID and program name for a system’s listening TCP connections, run netstat with the following command-line options:

The output resembles the following:

To learn how to install netstat, interpret its output, and view common command line options, see our Inspecting Network Information with netstat guide.

Using ss

The ss tool was created to improve upon netstat and provides more functionality. It allows you to monitor TCP, UDP, and UNIX sockets. A socket enables programs to communicate with each other across a network and is comprised of an IP address and a port number.

Running the ss with no options displays TCP, UDP, and UNIX sockets. Similar to netstat, restrict the ss command’s output by using command-line options. For example, to view all listening and non-listening TCP sockets issue the following command:

The output resembles the following:

To take a deeper dive into the ss tool, read our Learning to Use the ss Tool to its Full Potential guide. This guide provides commands specific to each protocol, commands to view general statistics about a system’s current connections, and ways to filter your output.

Using lsof

Since everything on a Linux system can be considered a file, the lsof tool can report on many aspects of a system, including open network interfaces and network connections. The lsof tool is preinstalled on many Linux distributions, so you may consider using it before a tool you need to install. One unique feature of the lsof tool is repeat mode*. This mode allows you to run the lsof command continuously on a timed interval. When inspecting your system to find information about which ports are in use, lsof can return information about which user and processes are using a specific port. For example, when working with a local development environment you may want to find which localhost ports are currently in use. Use the following command to retrieve this information:

The output returns a similar response:

To learn more about the lsof command read our How to List Open Files with lsof guide. This guide provides information about command-line options, the anatomy of the lsof output, and filtering your output with regular expressions.

This page was originally published on Thursday, February 25, 2021.

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