Minimum Security Baseline for ColdFusion 2025

Security Principles

• Least Privilege: Grant only the minimum permissions required for each component to function
• Deny by Default: Block everything by default, then selectively open only what you need
• Package Minimalism: Install only the cfpm packages that are actually required for your application
• Defense in Depth: Layer multiple security controls to protect against different attack vectors

ColdFusion Lockdown Tool

Adobe provides an official Lockdown Tool to automate security hardening. You should always test the tool in staging before applying it to production:

1. Download the Lockdown Tool from Adobe's website
2. Carefully review all settings before applying any changes
3. Run the tool in your staging environment first
4. Thoroughly test all application functionality after applying the lockdown
5. Apply the same settings to production only after successful validation

Administrator Access Control

You should restrict ColdFusion Administrator access to prevent unauthorized configuration changes. For containerized deployments, consider removing the Administrator interface entirely:

• Remove the Administrator interface from production container images entirely, or
• Bind the Administrator to localhost only (127.0.0.1) to prevent remote access
• Configure separate username and password authentication for each administrator
• Implement IP allowlisting for admin access using web server configuration
• Require VPN or bastion host access for all administrative tasks
• Enable multi-factor authentication if it is available in your version

Disable Unnecessary Services

Reduce your attack surface by disabling services you don't use. Use cfpm to manage your installed packages:

• RDS (Remote Development Services): Always disable this in production environments
• Remote Admin APIs: Disable these unless they are specifically needed for your operations
• Debugging Output: Always disable debugging output in production to prevent information disclosure
• Robust Exception Handling: Disable this feature in production to prevent information leakage through detailed error messages
• Unnecessary cfpm packages: Uninstall any packages that provide features you are not actively using

File System Lockdown

Configure the pathfilter.json file to restrict file system access:

{
  "allowedPaths": [
    "/var/app/uploads",
    "/var/app/reports"
  ],
  "deniedPaths": [
    "/etc",
    "/root",
    "/home"
  ]
}

This configuration prevents CFML code from accessing sensitive system directories. You should review and update this file after each ColdFusion hotfix to ensure the restrictions remain in effect.

Network Security

• Enforce TLS 1.2 or higher for all HTTPS traffic
• Disable weak and outdated cipher suites
• Use strong, randomly generated passwords with at least 20 characters
• Store all secrets in an external vault such as HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager
• Never commit credentials or secrets to version control systems

Input Validation and Output Encoding

Protect your application against injection attacks by following these practices:

• Always use cfqueryparam for all SQL query parameters
• Encode all output using functions like encodeForHTML(), encodeForJavaScript(), and similar context-appropriate encoding functions
• Validate and sanitize all user input before processing
• Implement CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) protection for all forms
• Configure Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict resource loading

Scheduled Task Security

Configure scheduled tasks to write output only to explicitly allowlisted directories:

• Set explicit output directories in your pathfilter.json configuration
• Configure scheduled tasks to run using service accounts with minimal required permissions
• Log all scheduled task execution events for auditing purposes
• Implement appropriate timeouts and retry logic for failed tasks

AI-Augmented Security Scanning

Modern AI tools can dramatically accelerate security vulnerability detection by automatically scanning your ColdFusion codebase for common security issues. Local AI models ensure your proprietary code never leaves your infrastructure during security assessments.

# SQL Injection Scan
"Scan this ColdFusion component for SQL injection vulnerabilities.
Identify any queries that don't use cfqueryparam and show me
secure alternatives."

# XSS Detection
"Review this CFM template for XSS vulnerabilities. Identify all
variables output to HTML without encoding and suggest appropriate
encoding functions (encodeForHTML, encodeForJavaScript, etc.)."

# Authentication Review
"Analyze this authentication component for security issues. Check
for weak password requirements, insecure session management,
missing CSRF protection, and authentication bypass vulnerabilities."

# Compliance Check
"Review this ColdFusion application against OWASP Top 10 2021.
Generate a compliance report with findings categorized by severity."