Port 1035 — Assigned But Unremembered

What Is Port 1035?

Port 1035 is a registered port (in the range 1024–49151, managed by IANA). It has an official assignment but virtually no presence on the Internet. Different sources disagree on what it actually serves—some list it as MX-XR RPC, others as the Genie Protocol—which tells you how forgotten this port is. ¹

The Registered Port Range: The Middle Ground

When IANA divides port numbers, it creates three territories:

• Well-Known Ports (0–1023): Reserved for established protocols. SSH lives here, HTTPS lives here, the important things live here.
• Registered Ports (1024–49151): Services registered with IANA but with no special protection. They require registration but can fall into disuse.
• Dynamic/Ephemeral Ports (49152–65535): Free-for-all space. Anything can use these ports temporarily.

Port 1035 is in the middle tier: official but not protected, named but not known. ²

What Runs on Port 1035?

The honest answer: almost nothing, at least nothing that matters at scale.

One documented use is Retrospect Express HD, a backup software that occasionally listens on this port for local network communication. ³ This is not a widely-used service. Most people running backup software don't know about port 1035 and don't care.

The security databases also mention that malware has historically used this port for command-and-control communication, which is the only reason anyone bothers documenting it. A port carrying malware traffic becomes a port that security tools monitor. Port 1035 has received minimal attention even for that reason.

How to Check What's Listening on Port 1035

If you want to see whether anything is actually listening on port 1035 on your network:

On macOS/Linux:

lsof -i :1035
# or
netstat -an | grep 1035

On Windows:

netstat -ano | findstr :1035

If nothing appears, nothing is listening. This is the most likely outcome.

Why Unassigned (And Forgotten) Ports Matter

Port 1035 exists to show you how the Internet's address space actually works. IANA assigns ports to services, but assignment doesn't guarantee adoption. Thousands of registered ports are like this: officially named, functionally irrelevant, never used at scale.

This matters because:

1. It explains port scanning — Security researchers scan all 65,535 ports because some of them carry things nobody officially assigned them to. Without complete scans, you'd miss malware using obscure ports like 1035.

2. It shows the limits of standards — IANA can register a port, but it can't force the world to use it. A protocol without traction is just a number in a registry.

3. It's honest about the Internet — Not every port carries something profound. Some ports are just empty doors. That's real, and it's worth acknowledging.

Port 1035 carries nothing of consequence. No critical infrastructure depends on it. No human relies on it. It exists because IANA has to assign something to the numbers between the useful ports. It's a placeholder in the address space, a reminder that the Internet's nervous system has plenty of dead wires alongside the ones carrying everything.