{ "id": "071817f7-d426-4ad9-8c82-42b3307b984c", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:21:22.029873Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:22:02.373482Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "8eb82a6e1ac156b00bd63b90117f6225dc52d727", "title": "Netcat", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 143974, "plain_text": "Netcat\r\nBy Contributors to Wikimedia projects\r\nPublished: 2004-09-06 · Archived: 2026-04-05 19:18:50 UTC\r\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\r\n\"Ncat\" redirects here. For other uses, see NCAT.\r\nnetcat\r\nThe netcat command\r\nOriginal author *Hobbit*\r\nDeveloper Avian Research\r\nInitial release October 28, 1995; 30 years ago[1]\r\nFinal release 1.10 / March 1996; 30 years ago\r\nOperating system Unix and Unix-like, DOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows CE\r\nType Network utility\r\nLicense\r\nOriginal version: custom, permissive license\r\nGNU version: GPL\r\nOpenBSD version: BSD\r\nWebsite nc110.sourceforge.io\r\nnetcat (often abbreviated to nc) is a computer networking utility for reading from and writing to network\r\nconnections using TCP or UDP. The command is designed to be a dependable back-end that can be used directly\r\nor easily driven by other programs and scripts. At the same time, it is a feature-rich network debugging and\r\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat\r\nPage 1 of 4\n\ninvestigation tool, since it can produce almost any kind of connection its user could need and has a number of\r\nbuilt-in capabilities.\r\nIt is able to perform port scanning, file transferring and port listening.\r\nThe original netcat's features include:[2]\r\nOutbound or inbound connections, TCP or UDP, to or from any ports\r\nFull DNS forward/reverse checking, with appropriate warnings\r\nAbility to use any local source port\r\nAbility to use any locally configured network source address\r\nBuilt-in port-scanning capabilities, with randomization\r\nBuilt-in loose source-routing capability\r\nCan read command line arguments from standard input\r\nSlow-send mode, one line every N seconds\r\nHex dump of transmitted and received data\r\nOptional ability to let another program service establish connections\r\nOptional telnet-options responder\r\nRewrites like GNU's and OpenBSD's support additional features. For example, OpenBSD's nc supports TLS, and\r\nGNU netcat natively supports a tunneling mode supporting UDP and TCP (optionally allowing one to be tunneled\r\nover the other) in a single command,[3] where other versions may require piping data from one netcat instance to\r\nanother.\r\nPorts and reimplementations\r\n[edit]\r\nThe original version of netcat was a Unix program. The last version (1.10) was released in March 1996.[4]\r\nThere are several implementations on POSIX systems, including rewrites from scratch like GNU netcat[5] or\r\nOpenBSD netcat,[6] the latter of which supports IPv6 and TLS. The OpenBSD version has been ported to the\r\nFreeBSD base,[7] Windows/Cygwin,[8] and Linux.[9] Mac OS X comes with netcat installed as of OSX 10.13 or\r\nusers can use MacPorts to install a variant.[10]\r\nA DOS version of netcat called NTOOL is included in the FreeDOS Package group Networking.\r\n[11]\r\n It is based on\r\nthe WatTCP stack and licensed under the European Union Public Licence Version 1.1.[12]\r\nKnown ports for embedded systems includes versions for Windows CE (named \"Netcat 4 wince\"[13]) or for the\r\niPhone.\r\n[14]\r\nBusyBox includes by default a lightweight version of netcat named mini-netcat.[15] Another version with more\r\nfeatures, named bloaty nc, is also available.[16]\r\nSolaris 11 includes netcat implementation based on OpenBSD netcat.[17]\r\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat\r\nPage 2 of 4\n\nSocat[18]\r\n is a more complex variant of netcat. It is larger and more flexible and has more options that must be\r\nconfigured for a given task. On February 1, 2016, Santiago Zanella-Beguelin and Microsoft Vulnerability\r\nResearch issued a security advisory regarding a composite Diffie-Hellman parameter which had been hard-coded\r\ninto the OpenSSL implementation of socat.\r\n[19]\r\n The implausibility that a composite might have been\r\nunintentionally introduced where a prime number is required has led to the suspicion of sabotage to introduce a\r\nbackdoor software vulnerability.\r\n[20]\r\n This socat bug affected version 1.7.3.0 and 2.0.0-b8 it was corrected in\r\nfollowing releases from 1.7.3.1 and 2.0.0-b9.[19]\r\nCryptcat[21] is a version of netcat with integrated transport encryption capabilities.\r\nIn the middle of 2005, Nmap announced another netcat incarnation called Ncat.[22] It features new possibilities\r\nsuch as \"Connection Brokering\", TCP/UDP Redirection, SOCKS4 client and server support, ability to \"Chain\"\r\nNcat processes, HTTP CONNECT proxying (and proxy chaining), SSL connect/listen support and IP\r\naddress/connection filtering. Like Nmap, Ncat is cross-platform.\r\nOn some systems, modified versions or similar netcat utilities go by the command name(s) nc , ncat ,\r\npnetcat , socat , sock , socket , sbd .\r\nNcat is a similar tool to netcat provided by Nmap suite.[22] \"While Ncat isn't built on any code from the\r\n“traditional” Netcat (or any other implementation), Ncat is most definitely based on Netcat in spirit and\r\nfunctionality.\"[23]\r\nNcat features includes: ability to chain Ncats together, redirect both TCP and UDP ports to other sites, SSL\r\nsupport, and proxy connections via SOCKS4 or HTTP (CONNECT method) proxies (with optional proxy\r\nauthentication as well).[24]\r\nList of Unix commands\r\ncat (Unix) – Shell command for writing an input file or stream to standard output\r\nNmap\r\nOpenSSL\r\nTelnet\r\nPlink\r\nPacket Sender\r\nBanner grabbing\r\n1. ^ Hobbit (1995-10-28). \"New tool available: Netcat\". Bugtraq mailing list. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n2. ^ Vacca, John R. (2006). Guide to Wireless Network Security. Springer Publishing. p. 266. ISBN 978-\r\n0387954257.\r\n3. ^ Giovanni Giacobbi (2006-11-01). \"The GNU Netcat project\". Retrieved 2020-03-22.\r\n4. ^ \"Netcat 1.10\". nc110.sourceforge.net. 2008-02-14. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n5. ^ Giovanni Giacobbi (2006-11-01). \"The GNU Netcat project\". Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n6. ^ \"OpenBSD CVSWeb: /src/usr.bin/nc/\". OpenBSD. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n7. ^ delphij (2005-02-06). \"Contents of /release/5.4.0/usr.bin/nc/Makefile\". FreeBSD. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat\r\nPage 3 of 4\n\n8. ^ Thomas Linden (2011-03-02). \"Netcat OpenBSD Cygwin Port 1.10.2.3\". Daemon.de. Retrieved 2019-06-\r\n05.\r\n9. ^ Debian netcat-openbsd\r\n10. ^ \"MacPorts Portfiles: netcat\". MacPorts. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n11. ^ \"ibiblio.org FreeDOS Group -- Networking\". ibiblio. 2019-03-03. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n12. ^ Jürgen Hoffmann (2018-11-03). \"various tools\". Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n13. ^ Andreas Bischoff (2010-06-07). \"Netcat 4 wince\". Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n14. ^ \"Revision 835: /trunk/data/netcat\". 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n15. ^ \"nc: mini-netcat - built from the ground up for LRP\". git.busybox.net.\r\n16. ^ \"busybox - bloaty nc\". git.busybox.net.\r\n17. ^ \"Oracle Solaris 11.2 Information Library - Performing TCP and UDP Administration With the netcat\r\nUtility\". docs.oracle.com.\r\n18. ^ \"socat - Multipurpose relay\". 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n19. ^ Jump up to: a\r\n \r\nb\r\n \"Socat security advisory 7\". 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n20. ^ Chirgwin, Richard (2016-02-03). \"Socat slams backdoor, sparks thrilling whodunit\". The Register.\r\nRetrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n21. ^ \"CryptCat Project\". 2005-10-18. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n22. ^ Jump up to: a\r\n \r\nb\r\n \"Ncat - Netcat for the 21st Century\". Nmap. 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n23. ^ \"ncat(1) - Ncat Reference Guide\". manpages.debian.org. 2016-12-18. Retrieved 2019-06-05.\r\n24. ^ \"Ncat - Netcat for the 21st Century\".\r\nOfficial website\r\nnc(1)  – Linux User Commands Manual\r\nSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat\r\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat\r\nPage 4 of 4", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "ETDA" ], "references": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netcat" ], "report_names": [ "Netcat" ], "threat_actors": [], "ts_created_at": 1775434882, "ts_updated_at": 1775791322, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/8eb82a6e1ac156b00bd63b90117f6225dc52d727.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/8eb82a6e1ac156b00bd63b90117f6225dc52d727.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/8eb82a6e1ac156b00bd63b90117f6225dc52d727.jpg" } }