How to Stop a Process Blocking a Port in Linux

How to Stop a Process Blocking a Port in Linux

Written By
T
TecMint
Jun 16, 2026

You’ve got a server refusing to start because something’s already sitting on port 8080, and you need to find what’s holding it and kill it without rebooting the whole machine.
This happens constantly in real sysadmin work. You restart a service, get Address already in use, and now you’re digging through process lists trying to figure out what’s squatting on your port.

The fix is straightforward once you know the right commands, and there are 3 solid ways to do it depending on what tools you have available on your system.

T

TecMint

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