NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · RuntimeException

Port must be numeric

Error message

Port must be numeric

What it means

Thrown by ghidraTraceConnect when Integer.parseInt(addr[1]) raises NumberFormatException — the port portion of the host:port address is not a valid base-10 integer. This is a distinct, more specific error than the generic connect failure so the user knows the address shape was correct but the port was non-numeric.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Debugger-jpda/src/main/java/ghidra/dbg/jdi/rmi/jpda/JdiCommands.java:149

		state = new State();
	}

	public void ghidraTraceConnect(String address) {
		state.requireNoClient();
		String[] addr = address.split(":");
		if (addr.length != 2) {
			throw new RuntimeException("Address must be in the form 'host:port'");
		}
		try {
			SocketChannel channel =
				SocketChannel.open(new InetSocketAddress(addr[0], Integer.parseInt(addr[1])));
			state.client = new RmiClient(channel, "jdi");
			state.client.setRegistry(connector.remoteMethodRegistry);
			state.client.negotiate("Connect");
			Msg.out("Connected to " + state.client.getDescription());
		}
		catch (NumberFormatException e) {
			throw new RuntimeException("Port must be numeric");
		}
		catch (IOException e) {
			throw new RuntimeException("Error connecting to " + address + ": " + e);
		}
	}

	public void ghidraTraceListen(String address) {
		// TODO: UNTESTED
		state.requireNoClient();
		String host = "127.0.0.1";
		int port = 0;
		if (address != null) {
			String[] parts = address.split(":");
			if (parts.length == 1) {
				port = Integer.parseInt(parts[0]);
			}
			else {
				host = parts[0];

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Ensure the port is a plain decimal integer in the valid range 0–65535, e.g. '127.0.0.1:12345'.
2. Strip any whitespace or template artifacts from the address string before passing it.
3. If the port comes from a variable, assert it is numeric (and in range) before calling ghidraTraceConnect.

Example fix

// before
ghidraTraceConnect("127.0.0.1:abc"); // throws 'Port must be numeric'

// after
int port = 12345;
ghidraTraceConnect("127.0.0.1:" + port);

String[] parts = address.split(":");
try {
    int port = Integer.parseInt(parts[1]);
    if (port < 0 || port > 65535) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Port out of range");
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
    // tell user the port is invalid before calling ghidraTraceConnect
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ghidraTraceConnect with a port like 'abc', '8080x', '12.5', or an empty port string. The host part passed the split(':' length==2 check, but the second segment is non-numeric.

Common situations: Typo in the port number; port specified in hex (0x1F90) which parseInt rejects; trailing whitespace or a non-printable character in the port string; a template variable was left unsubstituted producing a non-numeric value.

Related errors

• Address must be in the form 'host:port'
• Error connecting to ${address}: ${e}
• Transaction already started
• Attempt to create existing memory
• Timed out waiting for thread to stop

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8a7efd0a115ccf43. Report an issue: GitHub.