Which of the following protocols is considered stateless and utilizes TCP when communicating between a server and client?

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is stateful because it maintains persistent session state, tracking mailbox synchronization and folder subscriptions across connections.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is stateful within a mail transaction - it tracks the progression of commands (EHLO, MAIL FROM, RCPT TO, DATA) and maintains sender/recipient context until the transaction completes.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is defined as a stateless protocol - each request from a client is treated as an independent transaction with no memory of prior interactions retained by the server at the application layer. Despite this statelessness, HTTP uses TCP (port 80 for plain HTTP) as its underlying transport to ensure reliable, ordered delivery of packets. This pairing of application-layer statelessness with connection-oriented TCP transport is a core characteristic tested in networking certifications.

SSH (Secure Shell) is a stateful protocol that establishes an authenticated, encrypted session and preserves connection state - including channel multiplexing - throughout the entire session.