Port 1194 OpenVPN · UDP

What runs on port 1194

OpenVPN's default port, UDP by default and TCP when UDP is blocked. It is the most widely deployed VPN protocol in commercial VPN apps and home routers, now with WireGuard (51820) as the lighter alternative. Many operators run it on 443/TCP instead to pass restrictive networks.

Software that uses it: OpenVPN Community/Access Server · pfSense/OPNsense · router firmware (OpenWrt, DD-WRT, ASUS, Synology) · commercial VPN clients

Should port 1194 be open?

Designed to face the internet. This port exists to be reachable from anywhere, so the usual question is not whether to open it but how the service behind it is configured and patched.

• UDP is faster and avoids TCP-over-TCP meltdown; only fall back to TCP when you must.
• tls-auth / tls-crypt keys make the port invisible to scanners (no response without the key).

Check port 1194

# on the host: is anything listening, and which process?
ss -lunp 'sport = :1194'
sudo lsof -i :1194

# from another machine: is it reachable?
nc -zuv host 1194
sudo nmap -sU -p 1194 host

A port that answers from the internet when it should not is the finding; nmap from a machine outside your network (or a VPS) is the honest test, because scans from inside the LAN pass the firewall you are trying to verify.

Allow or block port 1194

# ufw (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 1194 proto udp
sudo ufw deny 1194/udp

# nftables
nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr 10.0.0.0/8 udp dport 1194 accept
nft add rule inet filter input udp dport 1194 drop

# iptables (legacy)
iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 1194 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 1194 -j DROP

# firewalld
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family=ipv4 source address=10.0.0.0/8 port port=1194 protocol=udp accept'

Replace 10.0.0.0/8 with the networks that need access. Allowing by source address is the rule that matters; "allow 1194" with no source is just "open".

Related ports

• 51820 WireGuard
• 500 IKE — IPsec key exchange
• 1723 PPTP — Obsolete VPN
• 443 HTTPS — Web over TLS; UDP for HTTP/3 (QUIC)

Part of the port number reference. Ports are 16-bit numbers; see also the subnet calculator and the packet decoder, which shows ports inside TCP and UDP headers.

Questions