Well-known · Cross-platform

194 IRC

TCP Yes
UDP Yes
SCTP
DCCP

What it is

Internet Relay Chat (cleartext).

When / why

Legacy chat; modern deployments use IRC over TLS (6697).

Protocol status detail

TransportStatusMeaning
TCP Yes Assigned by IANA and standardized, specified, or widely used on this port.
UDP Yes Assigned by IANA and standardized, specified, or widely used on this port.
SCTP Not applicable for this transport.
DCCP Not applicable for this transport.

Port range

Well-known (0–1023). System port for a core service. On Unix-like systems, binding it requires superuser privileges.

Browse all ports →

Firewall rules for port 194

Copy-ready inbound rules for the active transports. Replace every <source> placeholder with the specific host, subnet, or CIDR that should reach this port.

⚠ Unencrypted or unauthenticated by default — prefer a TLS variant or tunnel over VPN/SSH rather than exposing this port directly.

ufw

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from <source> to any port 194

Allow TCP 194 (IRC). Replace <source> with the network/host that should reach it.

sudo ufw allow proto udp from <source> to any port 194

Allow UDP 194 (IRC). Replace <source> with the network/host that should reach it.

firewalld

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family="ipv4" source address="<source>" port port="194" protocol="tcp" accept'

Allow TCP 194 (IRC) from <source>. Run 'firewall-cmd --reload' afterwards.

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family="ipv4" source address="<source>" port port="194" protocol="udp" accept'

Allow UDP 194 (IRC) from <source>. Run 'firewall-cmd --reload' afterwards.

nftables

nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr <source> tcp dport 194 accept

Allow TCP 194 (IRC). Assumes table 'inet filter' with an 'input' chain.

nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr <source> udp dport 194 accept

Allow UDP 194 (IRC). Assumes table 'inet filter' with an 'input' chain.

iptables

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s <source> --dport 194 -j ACCEPT

Allow TCP 194 (IRC). Persist with iptables-save/netfilter-persistent.

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p udp -s <source> --dport 194 -j ACCEPT

Allow UDP 194 (IRC). Persist with iptables-save/netfilter-persistent.

Azure NSG

az network nsg rule create -g <resource-group> --nsg-name <nsg> -n Allow-irc-194 --priority 1000 --access Allow --direction Inbound --protocol "*" --source-address-prefixes <source> --destination-port-ranges 194

Inbound rule for 194 (IRC). Set <source> to a CIDR; lower priority number = higher precedence.

AWS Security Group

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id <sg-id> --ip-permissions IpProtocol=tcp,FromPort=194,ToPort=194,IpRanges="[{CidrIp=<source-cidr>}]"

Inbound TCP 194 (IRC). Replace <source-cidr> (e.g. 10.0.0.0/16).

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id <sg-id> --ip-permissions IpProtocol=udp,FromPort=194,ToPort=194,IpRanges="[{CidrIp=<source-cidr>}]"

Inbound UDP 194 (IRC). Replace <source-cidr> (e.g. 10.0.0.0/16).

GCP firewall

gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-irc-194 --direction=INGRESS --action=ALLOW --rules=tcp:194,udp:194 --source-ranges=<source-cidr> --network=<network>

Ingress rule for 194 (IRC). Scope with --source-ranges and optionally --target-tags.

Windows netsh

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow IRC 194/TCP" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=194 remoteip=<source>

Inbound TCP 194 (IRC). Set remoteip to a host/subnet; 'any' is discouraged.

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow IRC 194/UDP" dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=194 remoteip=<source>

Inbound UDP 194 (IRC). Set remoteip to a host/subnet; 'any' is discouraged.

Windows PowerShell

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow IRC 194/TCP" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 194 -RemoteAddress <source>

Inbound TCP 194 (IRC). Replace <source> with a host or subnet.

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow IRC 194/UDP" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 194 -RemoteAddress <source>

Inbound UDP 194 (IRC). Replace <source> with a host or subnet.

Rules are generated only for transports marked active for this port. They default to an inbound allow with an explicit source placeholder — never any. Review direction, scope, and rule precedence before applying in production.