NNTP
What is Port 119?
Port 119 is the default port for the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), which is used for reading and posting articles to Usenet newsgroups. Defined in RFC 3977, NNTP was developed in 1986 as a replacement for the earlier UUCP-based news distribution system. Usenet predates the World Wide Web and was one of the original distributed discussion systems on the internet. NNTP allows clients to connect to news servers to browse newsgroup hierarchies, read articles, post new messages, and synchronize content between servers. While Usenet's mainstream popularity has waned with the rise of web forums and social media, it remains active for technical discussions, binary file sharing, and in academic environments.
Common Uses
- Reading and posting to Usenet newsgroups
- Binary file distribution via Usenet
- Academic and technical discussion forums
- News server peering and synchronization
Technical Details
Copy-paste commands to check port 119 (NNTP) from your terminal
Test connectivity
nc -zv example.com 119
curl -v --max-time 5 http://example.com:119/
telnet example.com 119
nmap -p 119 -sV example.com
(echo > /dev/tcp/example.com/119) 2>/dev/null && echo "open" || echo "closed"
Open port in firewall
sudo ufw allow 119/tcp
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 119 -j ACCEPT
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=119/tcp && sudo firewall-cmd --reload
Security Considerations
NNTP on port 119 is unencrypted and transmits credentials in plaintext. Use NNTPS (port 563) with TLS for encrypted connections. Many ISPs have discontinued Usenet access, but premium providers still operate. NNTP servers can be abused for spam distribution. Ensure authentication is required and restrict posting capabilities.
Popular Ports Reference
The most commonly used and referenced network ports