Securing API Endpoints in Django | Django REST Framework Permissions Guide

🔐 Securing API Endpoints in Django with Django REST Framework Permissions

When building APIs with Django and Django REST Framework (DRF), securing your endpoints is critical to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. DRF provides a powerful permissions system that lets you control access at the view or object level, allowing you to define who can read, write, update, or delete data.

In this post, we’ll explore:

• DRF permission basics
• Built-in permission classes
• Creating custom permissions
• Applying permissions to views
• Best practices for securing APIs

📌 Why Permissions Matter

Permissions ensure that only authorized users can access or modify your data. While authentication (like token-based or session-based login) verifies who the user is, permissions determine what they’re allowed to do.

Without proper permissions:

• Anyone could access sensitive endpoints
• Malicious actors could manipulate data
• Your app’s security and integrity could be compromised

🛠 DRF Permission Classes Overview

DRF uses permission classes to grant or deny access to an API view. These classes are evaluated after authentication and before view logic.

pythonCopyEditfrom rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticated

class MyView(APIView):
    permission_classes = [IsAuthenticated]

You can set permission classes:

• Globally in settings.py
• Per view or viewset

✅ Common Built-in DRF Permissions

1. AllowAny

Allows unrestricted access. This is typically used during development.

pythonCopyEditfrom rest_framework.permissions import AllowAny
permission_classes = [AllowAny]

2. IsAuthenticated

Only authenticated users can access the view.

pythonCopyEditfrom rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticated
permission_classes = [IsAuthenticated]

3. IsAdminUser

Allows access only to users with is_staff=True.

pythonCopyEditfrom rest_framework.permissions import IsAdminUser
permission_classes = [IsAdminUser]

4. IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly

Authenticated users can perform write operations. Unauthenticated users can only read (GET, HEAD, OPTIONS).

pythonCopyEditfrom rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly
permission_classes = [IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly]

🧰 Creating Custom Permissions

You can write your own permission classes by subclassing BasePermission.

Example: Only allow owners to edit their objects

pythonCopyEditfrom rest_framework.permissions import BasePermission

class IsOwner(BasePermission):
    def has_object_permission(self, request, view, obj):
        return obj.owner == request.user

Apply it to a viewset:

pythonCopyEditclass PostDetailView(RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
    queryset = Post.objects.all()
    serializer_class = PostSerializer
    permission_classes = [IsAuthenticated, IsOwner]

📍 Applying Permissions in ViewSets

You can set permissions globally or override get_permissions() for dynamic control.

Example: Role-based permissions

pythonCopyEditclass CustomViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    def get_permissions(self):
        if self.action == 'list':
            return [AllowAny()]
        elif self.action == 'create':
            return [IsAuthenticated()]
        return [IsAdminUser()]

⚙️ Global Permission Settings

You can set default permissions in your settings.py:

pythonCopyEditREST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_PERMISSION_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.permissions.IsAuthenticated',
    ]
}

This is a good practice to ensure all endpoints are protected by default.

✅ Best Practices for Securing DRF APIs

1. Use IsAuthenticated by default
2. Avoid AllowAny in production
3. Use object-level permissions where necessary
4. Combine multiple permissions with AND/OR logic if needed
5. Audit and test endpoints regularly
6. Use throttling and rate limiting to prevent abuse

🔚 Conclusion

Securing API endpoints with Django REST Framework permissions is essential for building safe, production-ready web applications. Whether you use built-in permissions or create custom logic, DRF gives you the flexibility and power to control access at every level of your API.