Who has the permission to run a service on a privileged port?

To run a service on a privileged port, which is any port number lower than 1024, the user must possess elevated permissions. In Unix and Linux systems, these privileged ports are restricted to enhance security, as they are often associated with well-known services and protocols, such as HTTP (port 80) or FTP (port 21).

The super user, often referred to as 'root,' has the authority to run services on these ports due to their unrestricted access to system resources and capabilities. This restriction helps to prevent unprivileged users from executing potentially harmful services that could interfere with system security or stability. While admins may have specific permissions that allow them to perform administrative tasks, it is specifically the super user who has the unrestricted ability to bind to privileged ports. Users operating outside of this privilege level do not have that capability, ensuring that only trusted services can utilize these critical ports.