In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for providing content management security to federated content repositories in a content management system and for interacting with a virtual content repository. These mechanisms and methods can enable embodiments to provide secure access to repositories based upon policies defined at a federated repository level and to secure repository access at the federated level based upon policies defined for differing classes of users. These abilities of embodiments can enable users to create services and applications by integrating content from unsecured repositories.