/django-security

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

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):
        # 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):