Port 2087 WHM (TLS) · TCP

What runs on port 2087

WHM (WebHost Manager) over TLS: the root-level side of cPanel, where accounts, DNS zones and the server itself are managed. One compromised WHM login is every site on the box; restrict by IP where possible.

Software that uses it: cPanel/WHM

Should port 2087 be open?

Internet-facing only with authentication and care. It can be exposed when the service behind it is authenticated, rate-limited and kept up to date; most deployments are better off behind a VPN, an allow-list or a reverse proxy.

• Host Access Control in WHM can limit 2087 to your addresses.

Check port 2087

# on the host: is anything listening, and which process?
ss -ltnp 'sport = :2087'
sudo lsof -i :2087

# from another machine: is it reachable?
nc -zv host 2087
nmap -p 2087 host
curl -v telnet://host:2087      # raw TCP connect test, Ctrl-C to leave

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 2087

# ufw (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 2087 proto tcp
sudo ufw deny 2087/tcp

# nftables
nft add rule inet filter input ip saddr 10.0.0.0/8 tcp dport 2087 accept
nft add rule inet filter input tcp dport 2087 drop

# iptables (legacy)
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 2087 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 2087 -j DROP

# firewalld
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family=ipv4 source address=10.0.0.0/8 port port=2087 protocol=tcp accept'

Replace 10.0.0.0/8 with the networks that need access. Allowing by source address is the rule that matters; "allow 2087" with no source is just "open".

Putting it behind nginx

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name app.example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:2087;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
    }
}

Then make the application listen on 127.0.0.1:2087 only. Test which location block a request hits with the nginx location tester.

Related ports

• 2083 cPanel (TLS)
• 22 SSH — SSH, SCP, SFTP, git over ssh

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