Strange and long list of udp listeners

Does anyone else running 10.6.4 have a large list of listening udp ports? I ran a netstat today and after the normal ports I expected to be open (ssh and iTunes) I saw a long list of 5 digit udp ports listening. I have my Apple Firewall on and I've unchecked the Airport Utility "listen for Airport Devices with a yellow light" check box.

When I turn off the network interface, the ports go away. They re-appear when I turn on a network interface, any network interface. Here's the list of ports listening:


udp4 0 0 *.53715 .
udp6 0 0 *.52105 .
udp4 0 0 *.52105 .
udp6 0 0 *.55219 .
udp4 0 0 *.55219 .
udp6 0 0 *.62325 .
udp4 0 0 *.62325 .
udp6 0 0 *.63326 .
udp4 0 0 *.63326 .
udp6 0 0 *.54624 .
udp4 0 0 *.54624 .
udp6 0 0 *.55040 .
udp4 0 0 *.55040 .
udp6 0 0 *.58521 .
udp4 0 0 *.58521 .
udp6 0 0 *.56459 .
udp4 0 0 *.56459 .
udp6 0 0 *.60196 .
udp4 0 0 *.60196 .
udp6 0 0 *.63958 .
udp4 0 0 *.63958 .
udp6 0 0 *.51279 .
udp4 0 0 *.51279 .
udp6 0 0 *.49212 .
udp4 0 0 *.49212 .
udp6 0 0 *.62001 .
udp4 0 0 *.62001 .
udp6 0 0 *.50628 .
udp4 0 0 *.50628 .
udp6 0 0 *.60010 .
udp4 0 0 *.60010 .
udp6 0 0 *.56002 .
udp4 0 0 *.56002 .
udp6 0 0 *.63358 .
udp4 0 0 *.63358 .
udp6 0 0 *.64118 .
udp4 0 0 *.64118 .
udp6 0 0 *.61561 .
udp4 0 0 *.61561 .
udp6 0 0 *.57254 .
udp4 0 0 *.57254 .
udp4 0 0 *.58577 .
udp4 0 0 . .

Macbook Pro 15, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 3, 2010 2:24 PM

2 replies

Jul 3, 2010 6:08 PM in response to satcomer

I found the command lsof that you can use in the terminal (e.g. sudo lsof -i-N -P | grep UDP) and all these connections are from mdnsresponder. I tried shutting it off, because I really don't want to do multicast DNS. I'm perfectly happy asking my assigned DNS server for name to IP mappings but alas, Snow Leopard won't work with mdnsresponder shut off...

So I guess this question has turned into how can I turn off all the chatty network junk and still use standard network services. I don't want to broadcast details about my computer on networks I'm connected to and I only want to accept DNS answers from my configured DNS server.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Strange and long list of udp listeners

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.