CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondjangosslnginxssl-certificate
jsmedmar
jsmedmar

Reputation: 1125

django: application crash with SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT using NGINX

I'm trying to make my django app work behind SSL, using nginx, gunicorn; all installed in a server that can be accessed in intranet but not from outside. These are my settings.

settings.py:

...
SECURITY_MIDDLEWARE = ('django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',)
MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = SECURITY_MIDDLEWARE + MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES

SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
X_FRAME_OPTIONS = 'SAMEORIGIN'
SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 60 
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS = True
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True

SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTOCOL', 'https')

nginx.conf:

server {
   listen 80;
   server_name HOSTNAME;

   location / {
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
       proxy_pass http://unix:/tmp/HOSTNAME.socket;
       proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Protocol $scheme;
       rewrite ^ https://$host/$request_uri permanent;
   }
}

Wondering if someone can point me to the correct solution.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2111

Answers (2)

jsmedmar
jsmedmar

Reputation: 1125

disclaimer: I'm new to web development. I'm also the author of the question.

edit: In /var/log/nginx/HOSTNAME_error.log I was getting the following error:

no "ssl_certificate" is defined in server listening on SSL port while SSL handshaking

Based on Steve's answer, this question (see comment for link), and this blog, I finally made my app to work behind SSL.

I created an SSL certificate and key using the following command (unexperienced users like me shall note that these certificates are self-signed, therefore browsers classify the connection as insecure. However transactions are correctly encrypted. For more information on the command see the blog):

dzdo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key -out /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt

Changed my nginx.conf to (since I'm using DjangoWhiteNoise, my nginx conf doesn't handle static neither media files):

server {
    listen          80;
    server_name     HOSTNAME;
    rewrite ^/(.*)  https://HOST/$1 permanent;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name     HOSTNAME;
    access_log      /var/log/nginx/HOSTNAME_access.log combined;
    error_log       /var/log/nginx/HOSTNAME_error.log error;

    # To create an SSL certificate:
    # dzdo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key -out /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt

    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://unix:/tmp/HOST.socket;
        proxy_redirect     off;
        proxy_set_header   Host              $http_host;
        proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP         $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

}

Finally, I set my Django security settings to:

...
SECURITY_MIDDLEWARE = ('django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',)
MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = SECURITY_MIDDLEWARE + MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES

SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
X_FRAME_OPTIONS = 'SAMEORIGIN'
SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 60 
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS = True
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True

SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTOCOL', 'https')

Hope this can help folks like me.

Upvotes: 2

Steve Jalim
Steve Jalim

Reputation: 12195

Just in case, have you tried setting ALLOWED_HOSTS, too?

Also, reading this from the docs:

If turning this to True causes infinite redirects, it probably means your site is running behind a proxy and can’t tell which requests are secure and which are not. Your proxy likely sets a header to indicate secure requests; you can correct the problem by finding out what that header is and configuring the SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER setting accordingly.

then looking at what you have there in your nginx conf:

listen 80
...
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Protocol $scheme;

Are you sure that $scheme is https and not http? You're listening on port 80, not port 443 and your SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER setting looks like it's expecting https when it may be getting a unsecured http request forwarded.

Just a guess, looking at the configs.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions