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open ports

  • 4 replies
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  • Last reply by DavidDM

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Hello.

Recently, I got infected with virus/ trojans. While cleaning the system, Win XP, I found that every time Firefox is active, there are four ports that open between my PC and the local loop back address 127.0.0.1.

Wondering if someone knows why this happens. I've also seen the same thing happen in Win 7.

I am running Firefox 7 on both Win XP and Win 7.

I also had a friend check on his system and the same occurs. Sometimes the ports are consecutive, but sometimes it skips one port, i.e: 1525, 1526, 1527, 1528.

Feel free to be as technical as you need. I have completed Computer Science degree so I am fairly used to tech lingo.

Thanks for your time.

David

Hello. Recently, I got infected with virus/ trojans. While cleaning the system, Win XP, I found that every time Firefox is active, there are four ports that open between my PC and the local loop back address 127.0.0.1. Wondering if someone knows why this happens. I've also seen the same thing happen in Win 7. I am running Firefox 7 on both Win XP and Win 7. I also had a friend check on his system and the same occurs. Sometimes the ports are consecutive, but sometimes it skips one port, i.e: 1525, 1526, 1527, 1528. Feel free to be as technical as you need. I have completed Computer Science degree so I am fairly used to tech lingo. Thanks for your time. David

Chosen solution

Firefox uses those port as a loopback to connect to the software security device (SSL and password manager).

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Great.

However, after reading through the various comments, there were only one pair of ports open when Firefox was running. I have two pairs, i.e. 4 ports in total.

I can do a netstat screen capture if you like.

Thanks.

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Chosen Solution

Firefox uses those port as a loopback to connect to the software security device (SSL and password manager).

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Make sense then.

Thank you for your helpful comments.