Respondiendo la pregunta:
- SÍ, se necesita una degradación para que nc pueda escuchar. y en cuanto a los otros comentarios:
a) -p no se debe usar cuando está en modo de escucha. de la página de manual de nc:
-l Se usa para especificar que nc debería escuchar una conexión entrante en lugar de iniciar una conexión a un host remoto. Es un error utilizar esta opción junto con las opciones -p, -s o -z.
b) la degradación se puede hacer en un solo paso, el comando yum downgrade funciona con la url del paquete:
$ rpm -q nc
nc-1.84-24.el6.x86_64
$ nc -l 12345 #Although the syntax is correct, the command fails
nc: Protocol not available
$ nc -l -p 12345 #attempt to run with incorrect syntax
usage: nc [-46DdhklnrStUuvzC] [-i interval] [-p source_port]
[-s source_ip_address] [-T ToS] [-w timeout] [-X proxy_version]
[-x proxy_address[:port]] [hostname] [port[s]]
$ sudo yum downgrade http://vault.centos.org/6.6/os/x86_64/Packages/nc-1.84-22.el6.x86_64.rpm #shortcut to downgrade
...
Setting up Downgrade Process
nc-1.84-22.el6.x86_64.rpm | 57 kB 00:00
Examining /var/tmp/yum-root-Iq4yc7/nc-1.84-22.el6.x86_64.rpm: nc-1.84-22.el6.x86_64
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package nc.x86_64 0:1.84-22.el6 will be a downgrade
---> Package nc.x86_64 0:1.84-24.el6 will be erased
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
==============================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
==============================================================================================================
Downgrading:
nc x86_64 1.84-22.el6 /nc-1.84-22.el6.x86_64 109 k
Transaction Summary
==============================================================================================================
Downgrade 1 Package(s)
Total size: 109 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
...
Removed:
nc.x86_64 0:1.84-24.el6
Installed:
nc.x86_64 0:1.84-22.el6
Complete!
$ nc -l -p 12345 #attempt to run with incorrect syntax
usage: nc [-46DdhklnrStUuvzC] [-i interval] [-p source_port]
[-s source_ip_address] [-T ToS] [-w timeout] [-X proxy_version]
[-x proxy_address[:port]] [hostname] [port[s]]
$ nc -l 12345 # try to listen again
^C
$#nc successully opens a socket on 12345. had to stop it with ctrl+C