Port 496PIM Rendezvous Point Discovery

PIM Rendezvous Point Discovery uses TCP and UDP port 496 for multicast routing control-plane discovery.

transport: tcp · udp
in transit: cleartext
assignment: official
risk: 4/10
lookups: 0

also known as pim-rp-disc, PIM RP Discovery

Technical Details

what runs on :496

PIM-RP-DISC uses UDP port 496 for binary, connectionless control messages; normal operation has no TCP-style handshake or stream framing. Candidate RPs send periodic announcements to the Auto-RP announcement group 224.0.1.39, while mapping agents distribute discovered RP mappings through the discovery group 224.0.1.40. TCP is included in the registry assignment, but ordinary Auto-RP deployments do not use a TCP listener on this port. PIM itself uses IP protocol 103 for other control messages, and Bootstrap Router (BSR) is an alternative RP-discovery mechanism that does not depend on this port.

Security Information

exposure of :496

risk score

4/ 10caution

worth attention. how exposed you are depends on configuration — don't leave it reachable from the internet without a reason.

network services averages 2.7 across 1,426 ports — this one sits 1.3 above.

in transit

cleartext

credentials and payloads are readable by anyone on path

assignment

official

registered with iana for this service — scanners fingerprint it by number

reachable over

tcp · udp

udp is connectionless — source addresses are trivially spoofed and it is a reflection favourite

security overview

Auto-RP traffic is generally unauthenticated and unencrypted, so an attacker able to inject or interfere with the multicast control traffic could alter RP mappings, disrupt multicast routing, or redirect multicast streams. The port should normally be limited to trusted multicast-routing interfaces and should not be exposed to the public Internet; filtering, multicast-boundary controls, and PIM authentication or a more robust discovery mechanism should be considered where supported.

Record

iana registry entry

port: :496
service: PIM Rendezvous Point Discovery
transport: TCPUDP
encryption: cleartext
assignment: iana registered
risk: 4/10caution
category: Network Services
usage: This port is used by PIM Auto-RP implementations, especially Cisco multicast routers, to exchange rendezvous-point announcements and mappings. It is normally encountered as UDP multicast control traffic inside a PIM domain, rather than as a conventional TCP service.
lookups: 0rank 993
added: 2026-08-21
updated: 2026-09-22
references: IANA service name registry — port 496

Something wrong?

This record is maintained by the engineers who use port 496. Every field on it is editable — change what's wrong, say how you know, and a reviewer publishes it, usually within a minute. Last touched 2026-09-22.

01edit any field on a page of its own
02a model checks it for accuracy and spam
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edit this record →back to the registry

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risk mix of the 8 listed

caution100%

0 of 8 encrypted

Port :496PIM Rendezvous Point Discovery

Technical Details

Security Information

Related Ports

Port 496PIM Rendezvous Point Discovery