User Guide

Table Of Contents
About resource and sandbox security 375
Note: You can also use the cfencode utility, located in the cf_root/bin directory, to obscure
ColdFusion pages that you distribute. Although this technique cannot prevent persistent hackers
from determining the contents of your pages, it does prevent inspection of the pages.
About resource and sandbox security
ColdFusion provides two levels of resource-based security:
ColdFusion MX Standard refers to its resource-based security as resource security. It lets you
specify a single set of limitations on access to ColdFusion resources that apply to all
ColdFusion applications.
ColdFusion MX Enterprise refers to its resource-based security as sandbox security. Sandbox
security is a superset of resource security. Sandbox security lets you create multiple sandboxes,
each corresponding to a different directory. For each sandbox, you specify a set of resource
limitations that apply to all ColdFusion pages in the sandbox directory and its subdirectories.
If you create a sandbox that is a subdirectory of a sandbox, the subdirectorys rules override the
parent directorys rules.
The ColdFusion MX Administrator Resource Security page (in Standard) and Sandbox Security
page (in Enterprise) let you enable resource-based security. In ColdFusion Standard, the page lets
you configure the resource settings that apply to all your ColdFusion applications. In ColdFusion
Enterprise, the page lets you create sandboxes and configure the resource limitations for each
sandbox individually.
Resource control
ColdFusion lets you control access to the following resources:
Resource Description
Data sources Enables access to specified data sources.
CF tags Prevents pages from using CFML tags that access external resources. You
can prevent pages in the directory from using any or all of the following tags:
cfcollection, cfcontent, cfcookie, cfdirectory, cfdocument, cfexecute,
cffile, cfftp, cfgridupdate, cfhttp, cfhttpparam, cfindex, cfinsert,
cfinvoke, cfldap, cflog, cfmail, cfobject, cfobjectcache, cfpop, cfquery,
cfregistry, cfreport, cfschedule, cfsearch, cfstoredproc, cftransaction,
cfupdate
CF functions Prevents pages from using CFML functions that access external resources.
You can prevent pages from using any or all of the following functions:
CreateObject (COM), CreateObject (Java), CreateObject (Web Service),
DirectoryExists
. ExpandPath, FileExists, GetBaseTemplatePath,
GetDirectoryFromPath, GetFileFromPath, GetGatewayHelper,
GetProfileString, GetTempDirectory, GetTempFile, GetTemplatePath,
SendGatewayMessage, SetProfileString