Well-known · Cross-platform

20 FTP data

TCP Yes
UDP Assigned
SCTP Yes
DCCP

What it is

Active-mode FTP data transfer channel.

When / why

Open alongside 21 for active FTP. Prefer SFTP/FTPS for anything modern.

Protocol status detail

TransportStatusMeaning
TCP Yes Assigned by IANA and standardized, specified, or widely used on this port.
UDP Assigned Assigned by IANA, but not standardized, specified, or widely used on this port.
SCTP Yes Assigned by IANA and standardized, specified, or widely used on this port.
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 20

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

ufw

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from <source> to any port 20

Allow TCP 20 (FTP data). 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="20" protocol="tcp" accept'

Allow TCP 20 (FTP data) from <source>. Run 'firewall-cmd --reload' afterwards.

nftables

nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr <source> tcp dport 20 accept

Allow TCP 20 (FTP data). Assumes table 'inet filter' with an 'input' chain.

iptables

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s <source> --dport 20 -j ACCEPT

Allow TCP 20 (FTP data). Persist with iptables-save/netfilter-persistent.

Azure NSG

az network nsg rule create -g <resource-group> --nsg-name <nsg> -n Allow-ftpdata-20 --priority 1000 --access Allow --direction Inbound --protocol TCP --source-address-prefixes <source> --destination-port-ranges 20

Inbound rule for 20 (FTP data). 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=20,ToPort=20,IpRanges="[{CidrIp=<source-cidr>}]"

Inbound TCP 20 (FTP data). Replace <source-cidr> (e.g. 10.0.0.0/16).

GCP firewall

gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-ftpdata-20 --direction=INGRESS --action=ALLOW --rules=tcp:20 --source-ranges=<source-cidr> --network=<network>

Ingress rule for 20 (FTP data). Scope with --source-ranges and optionally --target-tags.

Windows netsh

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow FTP data 20/TCP" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=20 remoteip=<source>

Inbound TCP 20 (FTP data). Set remoteip to a host/subnet; 'any' is discouraged.

Windows PowerShell

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow FTP data 20/TCP" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 20 -RemoteAddress <source>

Inbound TCP 20 (FTP data). 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.