Topic: Port 113 open - why?

[Rob]

Hi

a port scan shows that port 113 is open from both sides. doea anyone know if this is "normal"?

If so what service is it providing?

TIA rob

[Luke Drumm]

A look into /etc/services reveals the following:

auth            113/tcp         authentication tap ident

My guess is that the ports used for one of the remote authentication services.

[trbonja]

It's indent that is running on 113. Mainly used by IRC servers. They won't let you connect (most of them) if you close this port

[Rob]

thanks

I have a stock 5.1.2
Is it meant to be open both sides.? or has this happened weirdly?
TIA  rob

[Gordon Rowell]

Most IRC and some SMTP servers wrongly require ident service. It's a silly
requirement as ident data cannot be trusted unless you control all boxes
involved in the transaction. However, not providing ident breaks access
to these servers.

See /etc/identd.masq for precisely how useful the information is to the
remote site

Gordon