Port 796: Unassigned — A waiting room in the well-known range

Port 796 is unassigned—it exists as a number, but no official service has claimed it.

What Range Does This Port Belong To?

Port 796 sits in the well-known ports range (0-1023). These are the ports that require IANA assignment and are typically reserved for system-level services. Ports like 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and 443 (HTTPS) live here.

But not every number in this range is occupied. Port 796 is one of the gaps.¹

Why Do Unassigned Ports Exist?

The well-known range has 1,024 positions. Not all of them are filled because:

• Protocols take time to develop — SSH wasn't invented until 1995. HTTPS came later. Future protocols will need space too.
• Some numbers are reserved — Held back for specific purposes or historical reasons
• The registry grows carefully — IANA doesn't assign ports casually. A service needs to prove it's real, stable, and needs a permanent address.

Port 796 is waiting. It's an empty apartment in a crowded building—the address exists, but nobody lives there yet.

Any Known Unofficial Uses?

Unassigned ports sometimes get used informally by applications that need a port but never bothered with official registration. However, research shows no significant unofficial use for port 796.²

If something is listening on port 796 on your network, it's either:

• Custom software someone deployed internally
• Malware (uncommon, but possible)
• A misconfigured service that's supposed to be on a different port

How to Check What's Listening on Port 796

On most systems, you can check if anything is using port 796:

Linux/macOS:

sudo lsof -i :796
# or
sudo netstat -tulpn | grep :796

Windows:

netstat -ano | findstr :796

If nothing shows up, the port is genuinely empty. If something does, you'll see the process ID and can investigate what's actually running.

Why This Matters

Unassigned ports aren't useless—they're the Internet's room to grow. Every major protocol we rely on today once needed a port number. Port 796 is here, waiting, in case someone builds something the Internet can't live without.

The gaps in the registry are as important as the assignments. They're where the future lives.