Well-known · Cross-platform

53 DNS

TCP Yes
UDP Yes
SCTP
DCCP

What it is

Domain Name System name resolution. UDP for queries, TCP for zone transfers and large responses.

When / why

Open both transports. UDP/53 for lookups; TCP/53 for AXFR/IXFR and EDNS responses over 512 bytes.

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 53

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 53

Allow TCP 53 (DNS). Replace <source> with the network/host that should reach it.

sudo ufw allow proto udp from <source> to any port 53

Allow UDP 53 (DNS). 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="53" protocol="tcp" accept'

Allow TCP 53 (DNS) from <source>. Run 'firewall-cmd --reload' afterwards.

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family="ipv4" source address="<source>" port port="53" protocol="udp" accept'

Allow UDP 53 (DNS) from <source>. Run 'firewall-cmd --reload' afterwards.

nftables

nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr <source> tcp dport 53 accept

Allow TCP 53 (DNS). Assumes table 'inet filter' with an 'input' chain.

nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr <source> udp dport 53 accept

Allow UDP 53 (DNS). Assumes table 'inet filter' with an 'input' chain.

iptables

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s <source> --dport 53 -j ACCEPT

Allow TCP 53 (DNS). Persist with iptables-save/netfilter-persistent.

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p udp -s <source> --dport 53 -j ACCEPT

Allow UDP 53 (DNS). Persist with iptables-save/netfilter-persistent.

Azure NSG

az network nsg rule create -g <resource-group> --nsg-name <nsg> -n Allow-dns-53 --priority 1000 --access Allow --direction Inbound --protocol "*" --source-address-prefixes <source> --destination-port-ranges 53

Inbound rule for 53 (DNS). 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=53,ToPort=53,IpRanges="[{CidrIp=<source-cidr>}]"

Inbound TCP 53 (DNS). 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=53,ToPort=53,IpRanges="[{CidrIp=<source-cidr>}]"

Inbound UDP 53 (DNS). Replace <source-cidr> (e.g. 10.0.0.0/16).

GCP firewall

gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-dns-53 --direction=INGRESS --action=ALLOW --rules=tcp:53,udp:53 --source-ranges=<source-cidr> --network=<network>

Ingress rule for 53 (DNS). Scope with --source-ranges and optionally --target-tags.

Windows netsh

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow DNS 53/TCP" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=53 remoteip=<source>

Inbound TCP 53 (DNS). Set remoteip to a host/subnet; 'any' is discouraged.

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow DNS 53/UDP" dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=53 remoteip=<source>

Inbound UDP 53 (DNS). Set remoteip to a host/subnet; 'any' is discouraged.

Windows PowerShell

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow DNS 53/TCP" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 53 -RemoteAddress <source>

Inbound TCP 53 (DNS). Replace <source> with a host or subnet.

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow DNS 53/UDP" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 53 -RemoteAddress <source>

Inbound UDP 53 (DNS). 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.