django-security

name	django-security
description	Django security best practices, authentication, authorization, CSRF protection, SQL injection prevention, XSS prevention, and secure deployment configurations.
origin	ECC

Django Security Best Practices

Comprehensive security guidelines for Django applications to protect against common vulnerabilities.

When to Activate

• Setting up Django authentication and authorization
• Implementing user permissions and roles
• Configuring production security settings
• Reviewing Django application for security issues
• Deploying Django applications to production

Core Security Settings

Production Settings Configuration

# settings/production.py
import os

DEBUG = False  # CRITICAL: Never use True in production

ALLOWED_HOSTS = os.environ.get('ALLOWED_HOSTS', '').split(',')

# Security headers
SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 31536000  # 1 year
SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS = True
SECURE_HSTS_PRELOAD = True
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
X_FRAME_OPTIONS = 'DENY'

# HTTPS and Cookies
SESSION_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE = 'Lax'
CSRF_COOKIE_SAMESITE = 'Lax'

# Secret key (must be set via environment variable)
SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('DJANGO_SECRET_KEY')
if not SECRET_KEY:
    raise ImproperlyConfigured('DJANGO_SECRET_KEY environment variable is required')

# Password validation
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
        'OPTIONS': {
            'min_length': 12,
        }
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]

Authentication

Custom User Model

# apps/users/models.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser
from django.db import models

class User(AbstractUser):
    """Custom user model for better security."""

    email = models.EmailField(unique=True)
    phone = models.CharField(max_length=20, blank=True)

    USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'  # Use email as username
    REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['username']

    class Meta:
        db_table = 'users'
        verbose_name = 'User'
        verbose_name_plural = 'Users'

    def __str__(self):
        return self.email

# settings/base.py
AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'users.User'

Password Hashing

# Django uses PBKDF2 by default. For stronger security:
PASSWORD_HASHERS = [
    'django.contrib.auth.hashers.Argon2PasswordHasher',
    'django.contrib.auth.hashers.PBKDF2PasswordHasher',
    'django.contrib.auth.hashers.PBKDF2SHA1PasswordHasher',
    'django.contrib.auth.hashers.BCryptSHA256PasswordHasher',
]

Session Management

# Session configuration
SESSION_ENGINE = 'django.contrib.sessions.backends.cache'  # Or 'db'
SESSION_CACHE_ALIAS = 'default'
SESSION_COOKIE_AGE = 3600 * 24 * 7  # 1 week
SESSION_SAVE_EVERY_REQUEST = False
SESSION_EXPIRE_AT_BROWSER_CLOSE = False  # Better UX, but less secure

Authorization

Permissions

# models.py
from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission

class Post(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    content = models.TextField()
    author = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)

    class Meta:
        permissions = [
            ('can_publish', 'Can publish posts'),
            ('can_edit_others', 'Can edit posts of others'),
        ]

    def user_can_edit(self, user):
        """Check if user can edit this post."""
        return self.author == user or user.has_perm('app.can_edit_others')

# views.py
from django.contrib.auth.mixins import LoginRequiredMixin, PermissionRequiredMixin
from django.views.generic import UpdateView

class PostUpdateView(LoginRequiredMixin, PermissionRequiredMixin, UpdateView):
    model = Post
    permission_required = 'app.can_edit_others'
    raise_exception = True  # Return 403 instead of redirect

    def get_queryset(self):
        """Only allow users to edit their own posts."""
        return Post.objects.filter(author=self.request.user)

Custom Permissions

# permissions.py
from rest_framework import permissions

class IsOwnerOrReadOnly(permissions.BasePermission):
    """Allow only owners to edit objects."""

    def has_object_permission(self, request, view, obj):
        if request.method in permissions.SAFE_METHODS:
            return True
        return obj.author == request.user

class IsAdminOrReadOnly(permissions.BasePermission):
    """Allow admins to do anything, others read-only."""

    def has_permission(self, request, view):
        if request.method in permissions.SAFE_METHODS:
            return True
        return request.user and request.user.is_staff

class IsVerifiedUser(permissions.BasePermission):
    """Allow only verified users."""

    def has_permission(self, request, view):
        return request.user and request.user.is_authenticated and request.user.is_verified

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

# models.py
from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser, Group

class User(AbstractUser):
    ROLE_CHOICES = [
        ('admin', 'Administrator'),
        ('moderator', 'Moderator'),
        ('user', 'Regular User'),
    ]
    role = models.CharField(max_length=20, choices=ROLE_CHOICES, default='user')

    def is_admin(self):
        return self.role == 'admin' or self.is_superuser

    def is_moderator(self):
        return self.role in ['admin', 'moderator']

# Mixins
class AdminRequiredMixin:
    """Mixin to require admin role."""

    def dispatch(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        if not request.user.is_authenticated or not request.user.is_admin():
            from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
            raise PermissionDenied
        return super().dispatch(request, *args, **kwargs)

SQL Injection Prevention

Django ORM Protection

# GOOD: Django ORM automatically escapes parameters
def get_user(username):
    return User.objects.get(username=username)  # Safe

# GOOD: Using parameters with raw()
def search_users(query):
    return User.objects.raw('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = %s', [query])

# BAD: Never directly interpolate user input
def get_user_bad(username):
    return User.objects.raw(f'SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = {username}')  # VULNERABLE!

# GOOD: Using filter with proper escaping
def get_users_by_email(email):
    return User.objects.filter(email__iexact=email)  # Safe

# GOOD: Using Q objects for complex queries
from django.db.models import Q
def search_users_complex(query):
    return User.objects.filter(
        Q(username__icontains=query) |
        Q(email__icontains=query)
    )  # Safe

XSS Prevention

Template Escaping

{# Django auto-escapes variables by default - SAFE #}
{{ user_input }}  {# Escaped HTML #}

{# Explicitly mark safe only for trusted content #}
{{ trusted_html|safe }}  {# Not escaped #}

{# Use template filters for safe HTML #}
{{ user_input|escape }}  {# Same as default #}
{{ user_input|striptags }}  {# Remove all HTML tags #}

{# JavaScript escaping #}
<script>
    var username = {{ username|escapejs }};
</script>

Safe String Handling

from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
from django.utils.html import escape

# BAD: Never mark user input as safe without escaping
def render_bad(user_input):
    return mark_safe(user_input)  # VULNERABLE!

# GOOD: Escape first, then mark safe
def render_good(user_input):
    return mark_safe(escape(user_input))

# GOOD: Use format_html for HTML with variables
from django.utils.html import format_html

def greet_user(username):
    return format_html('<span class="user">{}</span>', escape(username))

CSRF Protection

Default CSRF Protection

# settings.py - CSRF is enabled by default
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
CSRF_COOKIE_SAMESITE = 'Lax'
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = ['https://example.com']

<form method="post">
    {% csrf_token %}
    {{ form.as_p }}
    <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

File Upload Security

File Validation

import os
from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError

def validate_file_extension(value):
    ext = os.path.splitext(value.name)[1]
    valid_extensions = ['.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.gif', '.pdf']
    if not ext.lower() in valid_extensions:
        raise ValidationError('Unsupported file extension.')

def validate_file_size(value):
    filesize = value.size
    if filesize > 5 * 1024 * 1024:
        raise ValidationError('File too large. Max size is 5MB.')

# models.py
class Document(models.Model):
    file = models.FileField(
        upload_to='documents/',
        validators=[validate_file_extension, validate_file_size]
    )

API Security

Rate Limiting

# settings.py
REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_THROTTLE_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.throttling.AnonRateThrottle',
        'rest_framework.throttling.UserRateThrottle'
    ],
    'DEFAULT_THROTTLE_RATES': {
        'anon': '100/day',
        'user': '1000/day',
        'upload': '10/hour',
    }
}

Quick Security Checklist

Check	Description
DEBUG = False	Never run with DEBUG in production
HTTPS only	Force SSL, secure cookies
Strong secrets	Use environment variables for SECRET_KEY
Password validation	Enable all password validators
CSRF protection	Enabled by default, don't disable
XSS prevention	Django auto-escapes, don't use |safe with user input
SQL injection	Use ORM, never concatenate strings in queries
File uploads	Validate file type and size
Rate limiting	Throttle API endpoints
Security headers	CSP, X-Frame-Options, HSTS
Logging	Log security events
Updates	Keep Django and dependencies updated