CNF stands for Conjunctive Normal Form, which is a way of expressing a formula in Boolean logic. A formula is in CNF if it is a conjunction of one or more clauses, where each clause is a disjunction of literals. In other words, it is a product of sums where all conjunctions of literals and all disjunctions of literals are in CNF, as they can be seen as conjunctions of one-literal clauses and conjunctions of a single clause, respectively. Every propositional formula can be converted into an equivalent formula that is in CNF.

CNF is also used in the context of cloud-native computing, where it stands for Cloud-native Network Function. A CNF is a software implementation of a network function, traditionally performed on a physical device, such as a router, switch, VPN gateway, or firewall. CNFs are fully software-based and use virtual interfaces instead of physical ones. They can be chained with other CNFs to form more complex networking functions. The benefits of CNFs include improved scalability and performance in large, distributed networks, and the use of commodity hardware.