64

Port 64/tcp is registered with IANA as covia with the description "Communications Integrator (CI)," assignee and contact [Dan_Smith], and a blank reference field; it is dual-registered on TCP and UDP. The registry rows carry no registration date, no modification date, and no RFC or other reference document — those columns are confirmed blanks in the IANA service-names-port-numbers CSV, not missing data. The "covia" name traces to Covia, the travel-technology company that ran the Apollo computerised airline reservation system; Covia was spun out of United Airlines in 1986, merged with Europe's Galileo system in 1992 to form Galileo International, and was ultimately absorbed into Travelport. The Communications Integrator was Covia's proprietary inter-system communications layer within that global distribution system (GDS), and the port assignment dates to the era when such software claimed a registered well-known port for host-to-host traffic. The underlying application protocol is proprietary and is not described in any public RFC. For an analyst the practical significance is minimal: the originating platform is legacy and proprietary, has no public deployment footprint, and port 64 has negligible modern internet exposure. No CVEs or active exploit frameworks targeting port 64/tcp specifically were found, and the only "trojan" association turned up is an uncorroborated boilerplate flag from a single secondary security database — it does not appear in Gary Kessler's curated bad-ports list or the common trojan-port references, so it is best treated as a database artifact rather than a real historical malware signal. Port 64 can be blocked at the perimeter without operational impact on the overwhelming majority of networks.

IANA assignment

covia — "Communications Integrator (CI)"; reference (blank — no RFC cited in IANA registry); assignee [Dan_Smith], contact [Dan_Smith]; dual-registered 64/tcp + 64/udp [Confirmed] — IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry (the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry)

Range class

well-known (0–1023)

Registration / modification date

none recorded (registry columns blank — confirmed blank, not unknown-missing) [Confirmed] — IANA registry CSV

Related ports

other low-numbered registered-but-rare GDS/legacy services; contrast widely deployed well-known ports

Primary use

Covia "Communications Integrator," a proprietary inter-system communications layer in the Apollo/Covia airline-reservation GDS; protocol not publicly documented in any RFC

Common software

Covia/Apollo GDS Communications Integrator software (proprietary; Covia → Galileo International → Travelport); no other or open-source implementations publicly documented on this port

Security implications

negligible modern exposure; no specific CVEs or exploit frameworks found; a single secondary DB flags a generic "trojan" association, but it is uncorroborated and absent from Kessler bad-ports and common trojan-port lists — treat as a database artifact

Historical context

Covia ran the Apollo reservation system, was spun off from United Airlines in 1986, merged with Galileo in 1992 → Galileo International, later absorbed into Travelport [Likely] — UPI 1992 archive; Wikipedia (Galileo GDS)

Current relevance

minimal; originating company defunct as an independent entity, successor systems use private infrastructure; safe to block at the perimeter for most networks [Likely] — Wikipedia (Galileo GDS); UPI 1992 archive

Analyst note

A responsive port 64 is statistically rare and not tied to any common modern service — investigate as an anomaly rather than assume legitimate Covia/GDS use.

Port 64/udp is registered with IANA as covia with the description "Communications Integrator (CI)," assignee Dan Smith, and a blank reference field (dual-registered on both TCP and UDP). The name traces to Covia Technologies' Communications Integrator, an early-1990s proprietary middleware product for transport-independent networked transaction processing. CI sat as a translation layer between an application and the network protocol stack, masking routing, operating-system, and protocol details so applications could run across incompatible hardware and network architectures (IBM, Tandem, DEC, NCR, Unisys) without recompilation. Covia itself descended from United Airlines' Apollo reservation system (launched 1971, spun off as Covia in 1986), and the middleware was aimed first at letting airline reservation platforms interoperate; in 1992 Covia merged with Europe's Galileo system to form Galileo International, and the underlying Apollo platform was retired on 2012-03-03. The product was assigned port 64 on both TCP and UDP, registered by Dan Smith at Galileo's Denver operations center. For an analyst, the practical takeaway is that this is a defunct/legacy registration: both the originating product and its host platform are long retired, and no actively maintained software is known to open port 64 in production. RFC 1340 (Assigned Numbers, July 1992) lists covia 64/udp as Communications Integrator (CI), but no dedicated RFC defines the CI wire protocol itself, and the IANA registry records no registration date and a blank reference. Port 64 sits in the well-known (system) range (0–1023), so it is typically blocked by default at consumer and enterprise firewalls; current public scan data (Shodan/Censys reviewed 2026-06-19) did not surface a notable internet-facing 64/udp population. Some legacy threat databases noted a past malware/trojan association, but no active named malware family using this port could be verified, so any unsolicited 64/udp traffic in a modern network is anomalous and worth inspecting.

IANA assignment

covia — "Communications Integrator (CI)"; reference (blank — no RFC cited in IANA registry); assignee Dan Smith; dual-registered 64/tcp + 64/udp [Confirmed] — IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry

Range class

well-known (0–1023) [Confirmed]

Status

defunct / legacy — originating product (Covia CI) and host platform (Apollo) both retired; no known active use as of 2026 [Confirmed] — connected.app

Primary use

Covia Technologies' Communications Integrator (CI) — early-1990s proprietary middleware for transport-independent networked transaction processing; descended from United Airlines' Apollo reservation system; vendor merged into Galileo International in 1992; Apollo platform retired 2012-03-03

Other/unofficial uses

none verified; no actively maintained software is known to use this port today

Security implications

well-known range, usually firewall-blocked by default; no notable current internet exposure found (Shodan/Censys, 2026-06-19); some legacy threat DBs flagged a past trojan/malware association but no active named family could be verified; unsolicited 64/udp traffic is anomalous

Typically seen on

nothing in modern production; an open 64/udp is an anomaly worth investigating

Reference / RFC

RFC 1340 (Assigned Numbers, July 1992) lists covia 64/udp as Communications Integrator (CI); no dedicated RFC for the CI protocol; IANA reference field blank, no registration date recorded [Confirmed] — RFC 1340, IANA registry

Analyst note

A responsive port 64/udp is statistically rare; treat it as an anomaly (decoy, backdoor, or misconfiguration) rather than a normal service, since legitimate use is unlikely.