Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the organisation responsible for managing and assigning port numbers for Internet protocols.
Ports are numerical identifiers assigned to a specific application or service. Ports are managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and are classified into three main categories:
- System or Well-Known Ports (0–1023): Assigned to standard network services.
- User or Registered Ports (1024–49151): Used by the software applications.
- Dynamic or Private Ports (49152–65535): Assigned dynamically for temporary communication.
Protocol is a standardized set of rules that dictate how data is formatted. Service names and port numbers are used to distinguish between different services that run over transport protocols such as TCP, UDP, DCCP, and
SCTP.
- TCP is connection-oriented, authentication is required, and 3-way handshake protocol.
- UDP is connectionless, no authentication required, and no handshake protocol.
Service is a Software that is managed for users, hence providing a service.
Application is a Software that is installed and managed by the user.
Here, we will identify some vulnerable system ports and services on Linux for both remote and local machines.