Unable to Bind to Port 8888 — Any Process Gets "Killed" with No Error [closed]

Problem Summary

I'm running into a strange issue on my Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS system where any process that tries to bind to port 8888 gets instantly killed, with no traceback or error — just the message:

Killed

This happens regardless of the application or code used.

What I’ve Tried

• Tested multiple applications and tools:
  • uvicorn (FastAPI)
  • Python's built-in http.server
  • A minimal TCP socket server
  • nc -l -p 8888 (netcat)
• All of them get killed immediately when attempting to bind to port 8888.
• The same commands work fine on other ports like 8887, 8889, etc.

Diagnostics So Far

• lsof -i :8888 shows no process using the port.
• ss, netstat, and similar tools confirm the port is unused.
• Running with sudo makes no difference.
• dmesg and journalctl do not show relevant OOM or kernel messages.
• The system has free memory, and this is not running in Docker, WSL, or a virtualized/containerized environment.
• Tried with multiple Python versions and minimal test scripts.
• The issue persists across reboots and different user accounts.

System Details

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
• Python: Tested with multiple versions
• Not a Python-specific issue— happens with nc, http.server, etc.

Additional Notes

• Other ports work without issue.
• This is not related to a specific framework or programming language.
• There are no leftover or zombie processes.
• I’m open to low-level diagnostics or config inspection suggestions.

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.