From FCKeditor Docs

Contents 1 The syntax of the ACL Items 1.1 Example 1 1.2 Example 2 2 Sessions 2.1 Example3

Access control is a way you to give your users different permissions while working on folders and files. The default setting in the config.cfm file gives permission to every user and permits all the options. In order to change this configuration you must firstly know the basic of the config.accessControl structure placed in the config.cfm file. 

The syntax of the ACL Items

config.accessControl[1] = structNew();
config.accessControl[1].role = '*';
config.accessControl[1].resourceType = '*';
config.accessControl[1].folder = '/';
config.accessControl[1].folderView = true;
config.accessControl[1].folderCreate = true;
config.accessControl[1].folderRename = true;
config.accessControl[1].folderDelete = true;
config.accessControl[1].fileView = true;
config.accessControl[1].fileUpload = true;
config.accessControl[1].fileRename = true;
config.accessControl[1].fileDelete = true;

• role
  The role is an attribute which sets the type of the user. It is set to "*" as default and you may treat as 'everybody'. You may set this parameter to other name like: 'user' or 'limited_functions'. The name of the user type will be directly connected to the function the user may use.
  

• resourceType
  The resourceType defines the resources handled in CKFinder. A resource type is nothing more than a way to group files under different paths, each one having different configuration settings, e.g. Images, Flash, Files. It is set to '*' as default and means that all of the resources are available.

• folder
  Folder determines where your limitations will be used. By placing the folders name you specify the place you want to put your restrictions in. It is set to '/' as default so no folder is set.

• folder and file options
  The rest of the variables are bool type and can be set as true or false. True of course enables an option, false disables it.

• other information
  Many "AccessControl" entries can be added. All attributes are optional.
  Subfolders inherit their default settings from their parents' definitions.

Example 1

If you want to restrict the upload, rename or delete of files in the "Logos" folder of the resource type "Images":

config.accessControl[3] = structNew();
config.accessControl[3].role = '*';
config.accessControl[3].resourceType = 'Images';
config.accessControl[3].folder = '/Logos';
config.accessControl[3].fileUpload = false;
config.accessControl[3].fileRename = false;
config.accessControl[3].fileDelete = false;

The above example only refers to file operations in the folder '/Logos' itself. It doesn't restrict operations on the folder so the user can delete or rename the folder. In order to limit users ability to modify the folder (not its context) you should change permissions in the parent folder.

Example 2

config.accessControl[3] = structNew();
config.accessControl[3].role = '*';
config.accessControl[3].resourceType = 'Images';
config.accessControl[3].folder = '/';
config.accessControl[3].folderView = true;
config.accessControl[3].folderCreate = true;
config.accessControl[3].folderRename = false;
config.accessControl[3].folderDelete = false;

Now a user can view and create a folder, but he will be unable to rename or delete it. 

Sessions

The roleSessionVar is a session variable name that CKFinder must use to retrieve the "role" of the current user.

config.roleSessionVar = 'CKFinder_UserRole';

To switch between different user roles, simply change the session variable:

<CFLOCK TIMEOUT="30" NAME="#session.sessionID#" TYPE="Exclusive">
<CFSET session.CKFinder_UserRole="#newrole#">
</CFLOCK>

Please read the Sessions article for more information about using session variables.

Example3

In your config.cfm file you create three different roles: First role, every user (wildcard "*" is used):

config.accessControl[1] = structNew();
config.accessControl[1].role = '*';
config.accessControl[1].resourceType = '*';
config.accessControl[1].folder = '/';
config.accessControl[1].folderView = true;
config.accessControl[1].folderCreate = false;
config.accessControl[1].folderRename = false;
config.accessControl[1].folderDelete = false;
config.accessControl[1].fileView = true;
config.accessControl[1].fileUpload = false;
config.accessControl[1].fileRename = false;
config.accessControl[1].fileDelete = false;

Second role, registered user:

config.accessControl[2] = structNew();
config.accessControl[2].role = 'registered';
config.accessControl[2].resourceType = '*';
config.accessControl[2].folder = '/';
config.accessControl[2].folderView = true;
config.accessControl[2].folderCreate = true;
config.accessControl[2].folderRename = false;
config.accessControl[2].folderDelete = false;
config.accessControl[2].fileView = true;
config.accessControl[2].fileUpload = true;
config.accessControl[2].fileRename = false;
config.accessControl[2].fileDelete = false;

Third role, admin:

config.accessControl[3] = structNew();
config.accessControl[3].role = 'admin';
config.accessControl[3].resourceType = '*';
config.accessControl[3].folder = '/';
config.accessControl[3].folderView = true;
config.accessControl[3].folderCreate = true;
config.accessControl[3].folderRename = true;
config.accessControl[3].folderDelete = true;
config.accessControl[3].fileView = true;
config.accessControl[3].fileUpload = true;
config.accessControl[3].fileRename = true;
config.accessControl[3].fileDelete = true;

You've created three different users permissions. The default user (guest) is allowed to browse all files and folders. Registered user has also the ability to upload files and create folders. The administrator has full permissions.

Now let's say you have an authentication mechanism somewhere in your web application. In this file, you assign one of the pre-defined roles to the user:

<CFLOCK TIMEOUT="30" NAME="#session.sessionID#" TYPE="Exclusive">
<CFSET session.CKFinder_UserRole="#admin#">
</CFLOCK>

if you want to use the admin role.

<CFLOCK TIMEOUT="30" NAME="#session.sessionID#" TYPE="Exclusive">
<CFSET session.CKFinder_UserRole="#registered#">
</CFLOCK>

if you want to use the role assigned to registered users.

<CFLOCK TIMEOUT="30" NAME="#session.sessionID#" TYPE="Exclusive">
<CFSET session.CKFinder_UserRole="#guest#">
</CFLOCK>

guest doesn't have assigned any specific permissions, so the default values are used (defined with "*")

<CFLOCK TIMEOUT="30" NAME="#session.sessionID#" TYPE="Exclusive">
<CFSET session.CKFinder_UserRole="#any_other_value#">
</CFLOCK>

same situation, default values are used.