1- Common Ports for Protocols and Services

Port(s) Protocol/Service Description
20, 21 FTP File Transfer Protocol (20=data, 21=control)
22 SSH Secure Shell for remote access
23 Telnet Unencrypted remote access (deprecated)
25 SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (email transmission)
53 DNS Domain Name System for resolving domain names
67, 68 DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (server/client)
69 TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol (lightweight, unencrypted)
80 HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol for web browsing
110 POP3 Post Office Protocol for email retrieval (unencrypted)
123 NTP Network Time Protocol for time synchronization
143 IMAP Internet Message Access Protocol for email retrieval
161, 162 SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol for monitoring
389 LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
443 HTTPS Secure HTTP for encrypted web browsing
445 SMB Server Message Block for file sharing (Windows)
514 Syslog System logging protocol (typically UDP)
636 LDAPS Secure LDAP for encrypted directory access
989, 990 FTPS FTP Secure – encrypted file transfers
1433 MSSQL Microsoft SQL Server database service
1521 Oracle DB Oracle Database protocol
3306 MySQL MySQL Database protocol
3389 RDP Remote Desktop Protocol for GUI-based remote sessions
8080 HTTP Alternate/Proxy Alternate HTTP port, often used by proxies

2- Security-Specific Ports

Port(s) Protocol/Service Description
137–139 NetBIOS Windows file/printer sharing (name resolution and data sharing)
514 Syslog / RSH Syslog for logging (UDP) and RSH for remote shell (TCP; less common)
1812, 1813 RADIUS Authentication and accounting protocol for network access
500 IKE/IPSec Internet Key Exchange for setting up VPNs
5060, 5061 SIP Session Initiation Protocol used in VoIP communications
5900 VNC Virtual Network Computing for remote desktop control
1194 OpenVPN VPN protocol for secure remote connectivity

3- Malicious/Attack Ports (Often Monitored)

Port Service/Usage Description
4444 Metasploit (default) Commonly used as a reverse shell port in penetration testing scenarios
135 DCOM Often targeted by worms (e.g., MSBlast) for Distributed Component Object Model vulnerabilities
1434 SQL Slammer Known for exploitation attempts against Microsoft SQL Server
445 EternalBlue Exploit SMB vulnerability exploited by malware (e.g., WannaCry)
69 TFTP (Insecure) Due to its lack of security, sometimes used for unauthorized file transfers

4- Active Directory-Related Ports

Port(s) Protocol/Service Description
389 LDAP Standard LDAP for directory queries
636 LDAPS Secure LDAP for encrypted directory access
88 Kerberos Authentication service critical for AD environments
445 SMB Used for AD replication and file sharing in Windows networks
3268, 3269 Global Catalog LDAP queries across domains in AD environments (unencrypted/secure)

5- Email and Proxy Ports

Port(s) Protocol/Service Description
25 SMTP Standard email transmission
465 SMTPS Secure SMTP for encrypted email sending
587 SMTP Submission SMTP Submission port used with TLS encryption
110 POP3 Email retrieval (unencrypted)
995 POP3S Secure POP3 for encrypted email retrieval
143 IMAP Email retrieval from server (unencrypted)
993 IMAPS Secure IMAP for encrypted email retrieval

6- Cloud and Web-Related Ports

Port(s) Protocol/Service Description
8080 HTTP Proxy Alternate port for HTTP services; often used by web proxies
8443 HTTPS Proxy Secure proxy connections on an alternate HTTPS port
1433 MSSQL / SQL over TCP Microsoft SQL Server communication (often used in cloud-hosted databases)
27017 MongoDB Default port for MongoDB NoSQL database services

Consolidated Ports Table