Toolman

Port 993 — IMAPS

TCP well-known

What runs on port 993

IMAP over TLS — the standard for mail clients.

Security considerations

Use this rather than 143.

Checking whether something is listening

# Linux / macOS — what is bound to the port
sudo lsof -i :993
sudo ss -lntp | grep :993

# Windows
netstat -ano | findstr :993
Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 993

# is it reachable from outside?
nc -zv example.com 993
curl -v telnet://example.com:993

Freeing the port

# find the process, then stop it
sudo lsof -ti :993 | xargs kill        # Linux / macOS
netstat -ano | findstr :993            # note the PID, then:
taskkill /PID <pid> /F                    # Windows

Should this port be open to the internet?

Only on a mail server. If this port is open on something that is not intentionally handling mail, you may be running an open relay — which will get the IP blacklisted quickly.

Quick reference

Port993
ProtocolTCP
ServiceIMAPS
RangeWell-known (0–1023) — binding requires root on Unix

Frequently asked questions

What is port 993 used for?

IMAP over TLS — the standard for mail clients.

Is it safe to open port 993?

Use this rather than 143.

How do I check if port 993 is open?

Locally, sudo lsof -i :993 on macOS or Linux, or netstat -ano | findstr :993 on Windows. From outside, nc -zv host 993 tells you whether anything answers.

Why do I get "address already in use" on port 993?

Another process is bound to it — often a previous run of your own program that did not exit cleanly. Find it with lsof -ti :993 and stop it, or configure your application to use a different port.

Can I change the port this service uses?

Almost always yes, in the service's configuration. Moving off a default port reduces automated scan noise, but it is obfuscation rather than security — a real attacker scans all 65,535.

Other common ports

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