Question

Firewall permission for address 239.255.255.250

Asked by: PeteVfi

Hi!

On my newly installed WinXPPro SP3 the firewall has begun to ask permission for address 239.255.255.250 for some service programs.

I think it's OK to give a permanent permission for these, but I would like to know the meaning of this address and what is it all about.


Best regards,

Pete V.

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Asked On
2008-11-24 at 06:44:43ID23930727
Tags

Networking, TCP/IP, firewall

Topics

Consumer Firewalls

,

TCP/IP

Participating Experts
0
Points
0
Comments
2

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Answers

 

by: PeteVfiPosted on 2008-11-25 at 06:30:52ID: 23034758

Hi!

OK, found an answer for this question from May, 2004 at

http://help.lockergnome.com/general/239-255-255-250-Port-1900-ftopict18953.html

Here are quotes from there
"
surrealist
Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 11:15 pm
Although 239.255.255.239 is a valid IP address, it's not a valid Internet address in the traditional sense. According to the RFCs, valid Internet IPs range up to 223.255.255.255. Higher addresses are used for multicasting, or, in this case, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). UPnP is a network protocol that allows devices to detect and automatically configure each other, similiarly to the way hardware Plug and Play works in a PC, or more to the point, the way a DHCP server automatically assigns IP addressing information. The idea is that UPnP will simplify network configuration.

While UPnP is theoretically not a bad thing, Microsoft implementation is somewhat dubious. Currently, I would recommend disabling UPnP, or at the least blocking it with your firewall.
"

"
surrealist
Posted: Fri May 07, 2004 1:16 am
The reason you can't ping or trace route to 239.255.255.250 is that it's not a host, per se. Internet routers will ignore that IP because it is not a valid IP for an Internet host. With several exceptions, the 'legal' Internet address space ranges from 0.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.255.

However, if a router has UPnP enabled, and received UPnP packet on port 1900, it would respond. The IP address 239.255.255.250 is just a standard place to send UPnP traffic. All UPnP compliant devices are configured to listen on that IP and port and will respond.

Rundll32.exe is an application that allows DLLs to be run as if they were applications themselves. Zone Alarm sees rundll32.exe trying to access what it considers to be the Internet (that is, any network not local) and pops up a warning. Chances are, rundll32.exe is merely broadcasting (on behalf of whatever DLLs make up UPnP) to any listening device that another device with UPnP enabled is on the line.

The outbound stuff isn't really too much to worry about, but since Zone Alarm is catching it, it might as well be blocked. It's the inbound stuff that needs to be blocked by the firewall, and most likely is.
"

Best regards,

Pete V.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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