---
name: "unhide-tcp"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "unhide"
version: "20240510-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/unhide-tcp"
---

# unhide-tcp(8)

forensic tool to find hidden TCP/UDP ports

## NAME

unhide-tcp — forensic tool to find hidden TCP/UDP ports

## SYNOPSIS

**unhide-tcp \[options\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**unhide-tcp** is a forensic tool that identifies TCP/UDP ports that are listening but are not listed by /sbin/ss (or alternatively by /bin/netstat) through brute forcing of all  TCP/UDP ports available.\
 Note1 : On FreeBSD ans OpenBSD, netstat is always used as iproute2 doesn't exist on these OS. In addition, on FreeBSD, sockstat is used instead of fuser. Note2 : If iproute2 is not available on the system, option -n or -s SHOULD be given on the command line.

## OPTIONS

- **-h --help**

  Display help

- **--brief**

  Don't display warning messages, that's the default behavior.

- **-f --fuser**

  Display fuser output (if available) for the hidden port On FreeBSD, instead of fuser command, displays the output of the sockstat command for the hidden port.

- **-l --lsof**

  Display lsof output (if available) for the hidden port

- **-n --netstat**

  Use /bin/netstat instead of /sbin/ss. On system with many opened ports, this can slow down the test dramatically.

- **-s --server**

  Use a very quick strategy of scanning. On system with a lot of opened ports, it is hundreds times faster than ss method and ten thousands times faster than netstat method.

- **-o --log**

  Write a log file (unhide-tcp-AAAA-MM-DD.log) in the current directory.

- **-V --version**

  Show version and exit

- **-v --verbose**

  Be verbose, display warning message (default : don't display). This option may be repeated more than once.

### Exit status:

- 0

  if no hidden port is found,

- 4

  if one or more hidden TCP port(s) is(are) found,

- 8

  if one or more hidden UDP port(s) is(are) found,

- 12

  if one or more hidden TCP and UDP ports are found.

## BUGS

Report **unhide-tcp** bugs on the bug tracker on GitHub (https://github.com/YJesus/Unhide/issues)

## SEE ALSO

unhide (8).

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Francois Marier (francois@debian.org) and Patrick Gouin (patrickg.github@free.fr).\
 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

## LICENSE

License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later \<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html\>.\
 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.