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
• Hardening a Django REST Framework API with rate limiting, CSRF, and JWT authentication
• Auditing a Django codebase for raw SQL injection risks or unsafe use of mark_safe

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):
        # Read permissions allowed for any request
        if request.method in permissions.SAFE_METHODS:
            return True

        # Write permissions only for owner
        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

Extra Security with raw()

# If you must use raw SQL, always use parameters
User.objects.raw(
    'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = %s AND status = %s',
    [user_input_email, status]
)

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))

HTTP Headers

# settings.py
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True  # Prevent MIME sniffing
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True  # Enable XSS filter
X_FRAME_OPTIONS = 'DENY'  # Prevent clickjacking

# Custom middleware
from django.conf import settings

class SecurityHeaderMiddleware:
    def __init__(self, get_response):
        self.get_response = get_response

    def __call__(self, request):
        response = self.get_response(request)
        response['X-Content-Type-Options'] = 'nosniff'
        response['X-Frame-Options'] = 'DENY'
        response['X-XSS-Protection'] = '1; mode=block'
        response['Content-Security-Policy'] = "default-src 'self'"
        return response

CSRF Protection

Default CSRF Protection

# settings.py - CSRF is enabled by default
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True  # Only send over HTTPS
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True  # Prevent JavaScript access
CSRF_COOKIE_SAMESITE = 'Lax'  # Prevent CSRF in some cases
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = ['https://example.com']  # Trusted domains

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

# AJAX requests
function getCookie(name) {
    let cookieValue = null;
    if (document.cookie && document.cookie !== '') {
        const cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
        for (let i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) {
            const cookie = cookies[i].trim();
            if (cookie.substring(0, name.length + 1) === (name + '=')) {
                cookieValue = decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1));
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    return cookieValue;
}

fetch('/api/endpoint/', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
        'X-CSRFToken': getCookie('csrftoken'),
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(data)
});

Exempting Views (Use Carefully)

from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt

@csrf_exempt  # Only use when absolutely necessary!
def webhook_view(request):
    # Webhook from external service
    pass

For file upload security, API security (rate limiting, JWT), security headers (CSP), environment variable management, security logging, and the full checklist, see skill django-security-advanced.