How can I allow a non-root user to use ports below 1024? I am working with an application that utilizes a port below 1024 because it was originally intended to be run as root.  I would like to debug the app in an IDE which I open as myself (non-root user) but I do have sudo privileges.  I have reasons against remote debugging as well as opening the IDE under sudo.

So the only way for me to do this would be to allow a non-root user to use ports or a port below 1024.  Can that be done and how?
If you can't change your app to use a port above 1024 then the easiest way would be to take the port it is using and map it to a port above 1024.

You can do that using the firewall, ipfw is the tool for setting the firewall. You could also do it using 'nc' - sometimes known as ncat or netcat.

There is a question here that gives more details. The thread also mentions "AuthBind" which is an open source package to that allows just this - opening ports below 1024 without granting root privileges.