To secure a Django application before deployment, run Django’s production checks, disable debug mode, protect its secret key, restrict accepted hosts, serve the whole site over HTTPS, preserve Django’s built-in protections, and secure the proxy, database, cache, and uploaded files around it. No single setting does the job: Django describes web security as a multilayered effort. Use the Django 6.1 security guide and deployment checklist as the starting point, then verify each control against your application and actual deployment stack.
Start with Django’s production checks
Run the deployment check against the same settings configuration you intend to use in production:
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python manage.py check --deployDjango can automate some deployment checklist items, but a clean result is not a complete security audit. The check cannot establish that your application handles untrusted input safely or that your proxy, database, cache, operating system, and media storage are correctly protected.
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Replace the development server
Do not run manage.py runserver in production. Django says it is not designed for production use. Deploy through an appropriate production-ready WSGI or ASGI server, with a web server, process manager, and proxy configuration that fit the application’s architecture. Django supports both WSGI and ASGI; neither is universally safer. Choose based on the workload and the team’s ability to operate and maintain the full stack. See Django’s deployment guidance.
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Lock down production settings and access
Turn off debug output
Set DEBUG = False in production. Debug pages can expose source excerpts, local variables, settings, and library details. Send errors to a production-safe monitoring path rather than displaying diagnostic information to visitors.
Keep the secret key private and unique
Use a large, random SECRET_KEY unique to the application. Do not commit it to source control; load it from a protected environment variable or file. If you rotate keys, use SECRET_KEY_FALLBACKS only for the transition that requires it, then remove old keys promptly.
Specify accepted hostnames
Set ALLOWED_HOSTS to the hostnames the application is meant to serve. A front web server does not make host validation unnecessary. Django validates hosts through request.get_host(); code that reads the raw host value from request.META bypasses that protection. Avoid a wildcard unless the application itself performs adequate validation.
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Limit infrastructure access and protect recovery copies
Allow database and cache network access only from the application servers that need it, and protect their credentials. Keep recoverable backups of both the database and uploaded files; losing media can be as damaging as losing records that refer to it.
Make HTTPS cover the whole site
For an application with user logins, enforce HTTPS site-wide, not only on the login or admin route. Redirect HTTP requests and ensure Django receives HTTPS information from a correctly configured server or proxy. Set SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE and CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE so those cookies are sent only over HTTPS.
Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) only after confirming HTTPS works across the intended domain scope. A mistaken scope or premature policy can create access problems, so base the setting on the domains and subdomains the service actually controls.
Trust proxy headers only when the proxy earns that trust
If Django is behind a reverse proxy, configure SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER only when that proxy reliably sets and sanitizes the relevant header. Django warns that an incorrect setting can create CSRF vulnerabilities or other security problems. Depending on the architecture, handling HTTPS redirection at the main web server may be safer. Confirm which layer terminates TLS and which headers it forwards rather than assuming Django can infer the original connection correctly.
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Render untrusted content safely
Django templates automatically escape many risky HTML characters, but that protection can be defeated by unsafe template construction, safe, mark_safe, disabled autoescaping, or untrusted HTML stored in the database. Keep values in correctly quoted template contexts and sanitize untrusted rich HTML before allowing it to render.
HTML escaping is not universal output encoding: JavaScript, CSS, URLs, and other contexts have different rules. Do not treat template autoescaping as permission to insert untrusted values into arbitrary contexts.
Retain CSRF protection for unsafe requests
Keep Django’s CSRF middleware enabled and use tokens for unsafe form submissions. Use csrf_exempt only when there is a clear need and the consequences are understood. Django also documents limitations involving uncontrolled subdomains, so review the application’s domain model rather than assuming a token alone resolves every cross-origin risk.
Parameterize queries instead of building SQL strings
Django ORM querysets use parameterized SQL. Treat raw SQL, RawSQL, and other query-construction escape hatches as higher-risk code paths: pass untrusted values as parameters, never interpolate them into SQL text.
Review framing and browser resource policies
Keep clickjacking protection enabled unless the application deliberately needs to be framed. Review Content Security Policy (CSP) and cross-origin policies according to the browser-facing features the application actually uses.
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Django’s security guide identifies CSP support as new in Django 6.0. A policy defines allowed content sources and can reduce XSS and content-injection risk, restrict external resources, help prevent unwanted framing, and report violations. Build a policy around the application’s assets, test it in supported browsers, and avoid unnecessary exclusions. CSP complements safe rendering and input handling; it does not replace them.
Plan for authentication abuse
Django does not throttle authentication requests by default. Consider an appropriate application plugin or web-server control, and monitor whether it is working as intended.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Handle uploads and request sizes outside form validation
Treat uploaded files as hostile input. Django says no framework-level technique can safely validate every kind of uploaded content. Where appropriate, restrict allowed extensions, serve user content from a separate top-level or second-level domain, and configure the web server so uploaded files are never interpreted as executable code. Include media in backup and recovery planning.
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For ASGI, enforce a maximum request-body size at the web server or edge. Django warns that uploaded form requests are not constrained by DATA_UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE; files may be spooled to disk before Django performs file-size validation. That creates a denial-of-service exposure if oversized requests can consume resources before the application rejects them.
Patch the exact Django release you run
Identify the installed Django version and apply the relevant patch release. The security issue archive, as of October 6, 2026, lists issues affecting Django 6.1, 6.0, and 5.2, with patches for each of those branches. Examples include potential denial of service involving get_supported_language_variant() and HTTP header parsing, potential request forgery via spatial lookup byte values, and privilege abuse in model formsets with editable primary keys. These examples do not establish that every application is affected: read the full advisory and check the installed release before deciding what action applies.
Use Django’s current security guidance for the version you have installed, and check official release information before relying on a branch’s support status. Patch work is part of operating the application, not a one-time prelaunch task; the rest of the stack and application-specific code remain in scope too.
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