CFFILE not deleting "read-only" files

Apparently, your ColdFusion installation does not have w+x permissions on the directory from which the read-only files are to be deleted. So, the error message is correct.

Note that ColdFusion does not and cannot run “as Apache” on Linux. it always runs as its own Java Virtual Machine, that is, as a separate user in Linux, even when integrated with Apache.

While someone else may have a different take, I’d start with confirming your current assumptions about the user running CF, and then about the permissions on the file itself (rather than the folder).

You can see both those from within CF with this code. Note there are two aspects of getting the file info, first literally getfileinfo (which confirms things like the readonly mode) but then using cfdirectory to get the permissions (offered via the filemode, only on Linux). I show both, with the latter using a Q of Q to focus on just a given file in a given folder (defined at the outset, in a var whose value you should change). 

You could of course fold this into your own code (already looping over cfdirectory), but faster would be to just drop it in a template, point to the path/file in question, and see what it reports. :-) Otherwise, perhaps the code may help someone else in the future. (And I offered it as tags, since that’s what you used. A script fan can of course convert it to cfscript with Pete F’s sweet cfscript.me site.)

Let us know what you find, even if only confirmation of your assumptions.

<cfoutput>
Account running cf: #server.system.properties["user.name"]#

<cfset filename="/yourpath/yourfilename" >

<p>GetFileInfo for #filename#:
<cfdump var="#GetFileInfo(filename)#">
</cfoutput>

<cfif server.os.name does not contain "Windows">
    <!--- The file mode cannot be obtained using cfdirectory in Windows --->
    <cfdirectory directory="#getdirectoryfrompath(filename)#" name="cfdir" >

    <cfquery dbtype="query" name="getfile">
        select mode from cfdir
        where Name='#getfilefrompath(filename)#'
    </cfquery>

    <cfoutput>
    <p>File mode for #filename#: #getfile.mode# 
    </cfoutput>
</cfif>