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Audit and harden a Guest User profile

Hardening starts with knowing what the Guest User can currently do. The audit takes about an hour per site and yields a finite list of action items.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 21, 2026

Hardening starts with knowing what the Guest User can currently do. The audit takes about an hour per site and yields a finite list of action items.

  1. Identify the Guest User and profile

    Setup, Experience Cloud Sites, open each site, find the Guest User Profile link. The profile name and user record are tied to the site.

  2. Run the Guest User Access Report

    From the site''s Workspace, open Settings, click Guest User Access Report. Export the report and read every line.

  3. Disable unneeded object access

    On the Guest profile, set every standard and custom object to No Access unless the site needs that object. Default to denying access; grant only where required.

  4. Set field-level security

    Within each accessible object, hide every field except the ones the site actually displays. FLS is the layer most often missed; PII fields exposed by default cause breaches.

  5. Audit Apex controllers and Flows

    Search the codebase for without-sharing in Apex classes used by the site. Audit Flows for the Run In setting; switch System Mode flows to User Mode where possible.

  6. Test as the Guest User

    Open the site in an incognito window. Try the actions you expect; try actions you do not expect (URL manipulation, direct record access). Anything that succeeds where it should not is a finding.

Gotchas
  • without-sharing Apex bypasses the Guest profile entirely. Any Apex class used by a public site must be reviewed for this keyword; an oversight here is the single most common Experience Cloud data-exposure pattern.
  • Flow Run In settings default to User Mode in modern flows but inherited flows may run System Mode. Audit every flow exposed to a Guest User.
  • Default file sharing on Experience Cloud sites can expose Files attached to records the Guest User has access to. Check the Files setting on the site Workspace.
  • The Guest User Access Report does not surface every risk. Combine it with manual penetration testing (URL guessing, record-ID enumeration) for full coverage.

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