Port 332 has no officially assigned service. According to the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry, this port sits in the well-known range but remains unassigned.1
What the Well-Known Range Means
Port 332 falls in the well-known port range (0-1023), also called system ports. These ports are managed by IANA and typically reserved for standardized services that need to be universally recognized.2
Ports in this range require "IETF Review" or "IESG Approval" to be assigned—meaning you can't just start using them without going through the proper standards process.3
The Reality of Unassigned Ports
There are 1,024 well-known ports. Hundreds of them sit empty.4
Some were reserved decades ago for protocols that never caught on. Others remain available for future services that might need them. Port 332 is one of these quiet spaces—allocated to the well-known range but never claimed by any protocol.
Checking What's Listening on Port 332
To see if anything is using port 332 on your system:
On Linux or macOS:
On Windows:
If nothing appears, the port is unused. If something shows up, it's either:
- A misconfigured service using an unassigned port
- Local software that chose this port for internal communication
- Something you should investigate
Why Unassigned Ports Matter
Unassigned ports in the well-known range serve two purposes:
Room for Growth — New protocols can request assignment through IANA when they need a standardized port number. The process is documented in RFC 6335.3
Institutional Memory — Some unassigned ports were once used by services that have been deprecated. IANA maintains records of these historical uses even after de-assignment, preserving the archaeology of Internet protocols.3
The Honest Truth
Port 332 is unassigned because nothing important enough has needed it yet. It sits in reserved space, part of the well-known range, but unclaimed. The Internet has thousands of these quiet ports—waiting, available, empty.
Most will never be used. That's fine. They cost nothing to reserve and ensure there's always room for the next protocol someone decides is important enough to standardize.
Related Ports
Nearby assigned ports include:
- Port 333 — Texar Security Port5
- Port 344 — Prospero Data Access Protocol5
- Port 345 — Perf Analysis Workbench5
Frequently Asked Questions
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