0.0.0.0/8

0.0.0.0/8 means “this network”

Last updated 2 Nov 2026 from the IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry

Short answer

0.0.0.0/8 means “this network”: a placeholder used before a device has an address, never a real destination on the internet.

Block	0.0.0.0/8
First – last	0.0.0.0 – 0.255.255.255
Size	16,777,216 addresses
Name in the registry	This network
Defined in	RFC 791, Section 3.2
Allocated	1981-09
Valid as source / destination	True / False
Forwardable	False
Globally reachable	False

What it means

RFC 791 and RFC 1122 reserve 0.0.0.0/8 so that a device can refer to itself or its own network before it knows its address, for example while it asks a DHCP server for one. 0.0.0.0 on its own is also used by software to mean “every interface on this machine” when it listens for connections.

You will see 0.0.0.0 in network settings or server logs, never as the address of a website or a person.

What to do

If a device shows 0.0.0.0 as its IP, it has not received an address: reconnect to the network or restart the router.

Want the address websites actually see for you? Open the Truth Check.

Sources

IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry (CC0) · checked 2 Nov 2026
RFC 791