diff --git a/docs/template-guide/network.mdx b/docs/template-guide/network.mdx
index f74270b06b..61667dac64 100644
--- a/docs/template-guide/network.mdx
+++ b/docs/template-guide/network.mdx
@@ -86,6 +86,49 @@ host:
 
 If a port is specified in the host, the user supplied port is ignored and the template port takes precedence.
 
+### Port
+
+Starting from Nuclei v2.9.15, a new field called `port` has been introduced in network templates. This field allows users to specify the port separately instead of including it in the host field.
+
+Previously, if you wanted to write a network template for an exploit targeting SSH, you would have to specify both the hostname and the port in the host field, like this:
+```yaml
+host:
+  - "{{Hostname}}"
+  - "{{Host}}:22"
+```
+
+In the above example, two network requests are sent: one to the port specified in the input/target, and another to the default SSH port (22).
+
+The reason behind introducing the port field is to provide users with more flexibility when running network templates on both default and non-default ports. For example, if a user knows that the SSH service is running on a non-default port of 2222 (after performing a port scan with service discovery), they can simply run:
+
+```bash
+$ nuclei -u scanme.sh:2222 -id xyz-ssh-exploit
+```
+
+In this case, Nuclei will use port 2222 instead of the default port 22. If the user doesn't specify any port in the input, port 22 will be used by default. However, this approach may not be straightforward to understand and can generate warnings in logs since one request is expected to fail.
+
+Another issue with the previous design of writing network templates is that requests can be sent to unexpected ports. For example, if a web service is running on port 8443 and the user runs:
+
+```bash
+$ nuclei -u scanme.sh:8443
+```
+
+In this case, `xyz-ssh-exploit` template will send one request to `scanme.sh:22` and another request to `scanme.sh:8443`, which may return unexpected responses and eventually result in errors. This is particularly problematic in automation scenarios.
+
+To address these issues while maintaining the existing functionality, network templates can now be written in the following way:
+
+```yaml
+host:
+  - "{{Hostname}}"
+port: 22
+```
+In this new design, the functionality to run templates on non-standard ports will still exist, except for the default reserved ports (`80`, `443`, `8080`, `8443`, `8081`, `53`). Additionally, the list of default reserved ports can be customized by adding a new field called exclude-ports:
+
+```yaml
+exclude-ports: 80,443
+```
+When `exclude-ports` is used, the default reserved ports list will be overwritten. This means that if you want to run a network template on port `80`, you will have to explicitly specify it in the port field.
+
 #### Matchers / Extractor Parts
 
 Valid `part` values supported by **Network** protocol for Matchers / Extractor are - 
@@ -105,7 +148,7 @@ id: input-expressions-mongodb-detect
 
 info:
   name: Input Expression MongoDB Detection
-  author: pd-team
+  author: pdteam
   severity: info
   reference: https://github.com/orleven/Tentacle
 
@@ -114,6 +157,7 @@ tcp:
       - data: "{{hex_decode('3a000000a741000000000000d40700000000000061646d696e2e24636d640000000000ffffffff130000001069736d6173746572000100000000')}}"
     host:
       - "{{Hostname}}"
+    port: 27017
     read-size: 2048
     matchers:
       - type: word
diff --git a/integration_tests/network/network-port.yaml b/integration_tests/network/network-port.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1ebdfdc96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration_tests/network/network-port.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+id: network-port-example
+
+info:
+  name: Example Template with Network Port
+  author: pdteam
+  severity: high
+  description: This is an updated description for the network port example.
+  reference: https://updated-reference-link
+
+tcp:
+  - host: 
+      - "{{Hostname}}"
+    port: 23846
+    inputs:
+      - data: "PING\r\n"
+    read-size: 4
+    matchers:
+    - type: word
+      part: data
+      words:
+        - "PONG"
diff --git a/v2/cmd/integration-test/network.go b/v2/cmd/integration-test/network.go
index 6335fd0036..f0c6a0e6c6 100644
--- a/v2/cmd/integration-test/network.go
+++ b/v2/cmd/integration-test/network.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"net"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/v2/pkg/testutils"
 	osutils "github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/os"
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ var networkTestcases = []TestCaseInfo{
 	{Path: "network/self-contained.yaml", TestCase: &networkRequestSelContained{}},
 	{Path: "network/variables.yaml", TestCase: &networkVariables{}},
 	{Path: "network/same-address.yaml", TestCase: &networkBasic{}},
+	{Path: "network/network-port.yaml", TestCase: &networkPort{}},
 }
 
 const defaultStaticPort = 5431
@@ -145,3 +147,62 @@ func (h *networkVariables) Execute(filePath string) error {
 
 	return expectResultsCount(results, 1)
 }
+
+type networkPort struct{}
+
+func (n *networkPort) Execute(filePath string) error {
+	ts := testutils.NewTCPServer(nil, 23846, func(conn net.Conn) {
+		defer conn.Close()
+
+		data := make([]byte, 4)
+		if _, err := conn.Read(data); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		if string(data) == "PING" {
+			_, _ = conn.Write([]byte("PONG"))
+		}
+	})
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	results, err := testutils.RunNucleiTemplateAndGetResults(filePath, ts.URL, debug)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := expectResultsCount(results, 1); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// even though we passed port 443 in url it is ignored and port 23846 is used
+	results, err = testutils.RunNucleiTemplateAndGetResults(filePath, strings.ReplaceAll(ts.URL, "23846", "443"), debug)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := expectResultsCount(results, 1); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// this is positive test case where we expect port to be overridden and 34567 to be used
+	ts2 := testutils.NewTCPServer(nil, 34567, func(conn net.Conn) {
+		defer conn.Close()
+
+		data := make([]byte, 4)
+		if _, err := conn.Read(data); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		if string(data) == "PING" {
+			_, _ = conn.Write([]byte("PONG"))
+		}
+	})
+	defer ts2.Close()
+
+	// even though we passed port 443 in url it is ignored and port 23846 is used
+	// instead of hardcoded port 23846 in template
+	results, err = testutils.RunNucleiTemplateAndGetResults(filePath, ts2.URL, debug)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return expectResultsCount(results, 1)
+}
diff --git a/v2/pkg/protocols/common/contextargs/contextargs.go b/v2/pkg/protocols/common/contextargs/contextargs.go
index 8752307508..72b21ea44f 100644
--- a/v2/pkg/protocols/common/contextargs/contextargs.go
+++ b/v2/pkg/protocols/common/contextargs/contextargs.go
@@ -2,8 +2,17 @@ package contextargs
 
 import (
 	"net/http/cookiejar"
+	"strings"
 
 	mapsutil "github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/maps"
+	sliceutil "github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/slice"
+	stringsutil "github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/strings"
+	urlutil "github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/url"
+)
+
+var (
+	// reservedPorts contains list of reserved ports for non-network requests in nuclei
+	reservedPorts = []string{"80", "443", "8080", "8443", "8081", "53"}
 )
 
 // Context implements a shared context struct to share information across multiple templates within a workflow
@@ -49,6 +58,31 @@ func (ctx *Context) hasArgs() bool {
 	return ctx.isInitialized() && !ctx.args.IsEmpty()
 }
 
+// UseNetworkPort updates input with required/default network port for that template
+// but is ignored if input/target contains non-http ports like 80,8080,8081 etc
+func (ctx *Context) UseNetworkPort(port string, excludePorts string) error {
+	ignorePorts := reservedPorts
+	if excludePorts != "" {
+		// TODO: add support for service names like http,https,ssh etc once https://github.com/projectdiscovery/netdb is ready
+		ignorePorts = sliceutil.Dedupe(strings.Split(excludePorts, ","))
+	}
+	if port == "" {
+		// if template does not contain port, do nothing
+		return nil
+	}
+	target, err := urlutil.Parse(ctx.MetaInput.Input)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	inputPort := target.Port()
+	if inputPort == "" || stringsutil.EqualFoldAny(inputPort, ignorePorts...) {
+		// replace port with networkPort
+		target.UpdatePort(port)
+		ctx.MetaInput.Input = target.Host
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // Get the value with specific key if exists
 func (ctx *Context) Get(key string) (interface{}, bool) {
 	if !ctx.hasArgs() {
diff --git a/v2/pkg/protocols/network/network.go b/v2/pkg/protocols/network/network.go
index c344538f58..0a738f8ee1 100644
--- a/v2/pkg/protocols/network/network.go
+++ b/v2/pkg/protocols/network/network.go
@@ -48,6 +48,14 @@ type Request struct {
 	//   Inputs contains inputs for the network socket
 	Inputs []*Input `yaml:"inputs,omitempty" json:"inputs,omitempty" jsonschema:"title=inputs for the network request,description=Inputs contains any input/output for the current request"`
 	// description: |
+	//   Port is the port to send network requests to. this acts as default port but is overriden if target/input contains
+	// non-http(s) ports like 80,8080,8081 etc
+	Port string `yaml:"port,omitempty" json:"port,omitempty" jsonschema:"title=port to send requests to,description=Port to send network requests to"`
+
+	// description:	|
+	//	ExcludePorts is the list of ports to exclude from being scanned . It is intended to be used with `Port` field and contains a list of ports which are ignored/skipped
+	ExcludePorts string `yaml:"exclude-ports,omitempty" json:"exclude-ports,omitempty" jsonschema:"title=exclude ports from being scanned,description=Exclude ports from being scanned"`
+	// description: |
 	//   ReadSize is the size of response to read at the end
 	//
 	//   Default value for read-size is 1024.
diff --git a/v2/pkg/protocols/network/request.go b/v2/pkg/protocols/network/request.go
index 09d408115d..758747bbf6 100644
--- a/v2/pkg/protocols/network/request.go
+++ b/v2/pkg/protocols/network/request.go
@@ -40,10 +40,18 @@ func (request *Request) Type() templateTypes.ProtocolType {
 }
 
 // ExecuteWithResults executes the protocol requests and returns results instead of writing them.
-func (request *Request) ExecuteWithResults(input *contextargs.Context, metadata, previous output.InternalEvent, callback protocols.OutputEventCallback) error {
+func (request *Request) ExecuteWithResults(target *contextargs.Context, metadata, previous output.InternalEvent, callback protocols.OutputEventCallback) error {
 	var address string
 	var err error
 
+	input := target.Clone()
+	// use network port updates input with new port requested in template file
+	// and it is ignored if input port is not standard http(s) ports like 80,8080,8081 etc
+	// idea is to reduce redundant dials to http ports
+	if err := input.UseNetworkPort(request.Port, request.ExcludePorts); err != nil {
+		gologger.Debug().Msgf("Could not network port from constants: %s\n", err)
+	}
+
 	if request.SelfContained {
 		address = ""
 	} else {