Port 946 is officially unassigned. IANA—the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which controls the port numbering system—has reserved this number but never allocated it to any specific service.
What "Unassigned" Means
The well-known port range (0-1023) is valuable real estate. These numbers are controlled by IANA and meant for standardized services that everyone on the Internet recognizes. Port 80 for HTTP. Port 443 for HTTPS. Port 22 for SSH. These assignments are deliberate, documented, and universal.
Port 946 has the number but not the assignment. IANA set it aside but never gave it a purpose. It's like a reserved parking space with no car.
Why Reserve a Port and Not Assign It?
The port numbering system wasn't built all at once. IANA allocates port numbers based on requests from protocol designers and standards bodies. Some numbers get reserved during planning phases and never get used. Others sit empty because the protocol that was supposed to use them never shipped or got replaced by something else.
Port 946 is one of these abandoned allocations.
The NetInfo Ghost
Some documentation suggests port 946 may have been used informally by Apple's NetInfo service in early versions of Mac OS X.1 NetInfo was an RPC-based directory system that kept track of user accounts, network configurations, and system resources on Mac servers and workstations.
NetInfo never became a standardized Internet protocol. It was Apple-specific, used internally on Mac networks. And it died in 2007 when Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard shipped—Apple replaced it with Open Directory.
If NetInfo ever used port 946, it did so unofficially. The port was never formally assigned to it in the IANA registry. When NetInfo disappeared, it left no trace in the official record.
What Happens to Empty Ports?
Nothing, usually. Unassigned ports just sit there. Applications can technically use any port number they want (as long as they have permission to bind to it), but well-known ports are supposed to be reserved for standardized protocols.
If you see traffic on port 946, it's either:
- A misconfigured application that chose the port randomly
- A legacy service (like NetInfo) still running on an old system
- Malware or an attacker using an obscure port to avoid detection
Legitimate modern services don't squat on unassigned well-known ports. If you find something listening on port 946, you should investigate what it is.
How to Check What's Listening on Port 946
On Linux or macOS:
On Windows:
If nothing returns, the port is closed. If something returns, you'll see the process ID and name of whatever is using it.
Why Unassigned Ports Matter
The existence of unassigned ports tells you something important: the Internet's numbering system isn't full. We're not running out of port numbers. The well-known range still has room for new protocols if we need them.
Port 946 is one of many empty addresses. It's a reserved space waiting for something that may never come. And that's fine. Not every door needs to open.
Related Ports
Port 946 sits among other well-known ports in the 900s, many of which are also unassigned or used by obscure legacy protocols. The entire range from 914 to 952 is listed as unassigned in IANA's registry.2
Frequently Asked Questions About Port 946
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