encrypt

Encrypts a string, using a symmetric key-based algorithm, in which the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt a string. The security of the encrypted string depends on maintaining the secrecy of the key, and the algorithm choice. Algorithm support is determined by the installed default JCE provider in Lucee or ColdFusion Standard. On ColdFusion Enterprise the algorithms are provided by the FIPS certified RSA BSafe Crypto-J JCE provider.

encrypt(string, key [, algorithm [, encoding] [, iv | salt [, iterations]]]) → returns string

CF4+

Lucee

BL 1.0.0+

Argument Reference

string string
Required

String to encrypt.

key string
Required

Key or seed used to encrypt the string.* For the CFMX_COMPAT algorithm, any combination of any number of characters; used as a seed used to generate a 32-bit encryption key.* For all other algorithms, a key in the format used by the algorithm. For these algorithms, use the GenerateSecretKey function to generate the key.

algorithm string
Default: `CFMX_COMPAT`

The algorithm to use to encrypt the string. ColdFusion Standard Edition installs the following algorithms:* CFMX_COMPAT: the algorithm used in ColdFusion MX and prior releases. This algorithm is the least secure option (default).* AES: the Advanced Encryption Standard specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS-197.* BLOWFISH: the Blowfish algorithm defined by Bruce Schneier.* DES: the Data Encryption Standard algorithm defined by NIST FIPS-46-3.* DESEDE: the "Triple DES" algorithm defined by NIST FIPS-46-3.NOTE: ColdFusion Enterprise Edition installs RSA BSafe Crypto-J library, which provides FIPS-140 Compliant Strong Cryptography. This includes:* AES: the Advanced Encryption Standard specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS-197.* DES: the Data Encryption Standard algorithm defined by NIST FIPS-46-3.* DESEDE: the "Triple DES" algorithm defined by NIST FIPS-46-3.* DESX: The extended Data Encryption Standard symmetric encryption algorithm.* RC2: The RC2 block symmetric encryption algorithm defined by RFC 2268.* RC4: The RC4 symmetric encryption algorithm.* RC5: The RC5 encryption algorithm.* PBE: Password-based encryption algorithm defined in PKCS #5.* AES/GCM/NoPadding: Encryption algorithm.NOTE: If you install additional cryptography algorithms, you can also specify any of its encryption and decryption algorithms.

Values:

CFMX_COMPAT
AES
BLOWFISH
DES
DESEDE
DESX
RC2
RC4
RC5
PBE
AES/GCM/NoPadding
AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding
AES/CTR/PKCS5Padding

encoding string
Default: `UU`

The binary encoding used to represent the data as a string. * Base64: the Base64 algorithm, as specified by IETF RFC 2045.* Hex: the characters A-F and 0-9 represent the hexadecimal byte values.* UU: the UNIX standard UUEncode algorithm (default).NOTE: If you specify this parameter, you must also specify the algorithm parameter.

Values:

UU
Base64
Hex

iv binary

THIS PARAMETER IS MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE WITH SALT.Specify this parameter to adjust ColdFusion encryption to match the details of other encryption software.* For Block Encryption Algorithms: This is the binary Initialization Vector value to use with the algorithm. The algorithm must contain a Feedback Mode other than ECB. This must be a binary value that is exactly the same size as the algorithm block size.NOTE: If you specify this parameter, you must also specify the algorithm parameter.

salt binary

THIS PARAMETER IS MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE WITH IV.Specify this parameter to adjust ColdFusion encryption to match the details of other encryption software.* For Password Based Encryption Algorithms: This is the binary Salt value to transform the password into a key.NOTE: If you specify this parameter, you must also specify the algorithm parameter.

iterations numeric
Default: `0`

The number of iterations to transform the password into a binary key. Specify this parameter to adjust ColdFusion encryption to match the details of other encryption software.NOTE: If you specify this parameter, you must also specify the algorithm parameter with a Password Based Encryption (PBE) algorithm.NOTE: This parameter is used with the salt parameter. Do not specify this parameter for Block Encryption Algorithms.NOTE: You must use the same value to encrypt and decrypt the data.

Compatibility

ColdFusion:

Version 4+ CF7+ Added support for additional algorithms. CF8 Added support for encryption using the RSA BSafe Crypto-J library on Enterprise Edition.

Lucee:

Lucee uses a combined IVorSalt attribute.

Links more information about encrypt

Strong Encryption in CF7 - Overview of the encryption algorithms

Examples
Sample code invoking the encrypt function

Encrypt using AES Encryption in ECB Mode

The key must be generated using the generateSecretKey("AES") function.

encrypt("top secret", "WTq8zYcZfaWVvMncigHqwQ==", "AES", "Base64")

Expected Result: keciULin7bxOWvN/BOarWw==

Encrypt using AES Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode

By default encrypt() uses the Electronic Code Book (ECB) mode for encryption. For increased security you should specify the mode and padding to use. In this example we will use CBC mode and PKCS5Padding. The value of the encrypted string will be different every time it runs because the IV is generated at random.

msg = 'data to encrypt';
key = generateSecretKey('AES');
encMsg = encrypt( msg, key, 'AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding', 'HEX');
writeOutput( encMsg );

Encrypt using AES Galois/Counter Mode (GCM)

Using GCM mode works CF 2016+ after update 2. It does not currently work on Lucee (bug: LDEV-904)

msg = 'data to encrypt';
key = generateSecretKey('AES');
encMsg = encrypt( msg, key, 'AES/GCM/NoPadding', 'Base64');
writeOutput( encMsg );

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