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Django is a high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. It is known for its 'batteries-included' philosophy, providing developers with a wide array of built-in features such as authentication, URL routing, and an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) system. Django is designed to help developers take applications from concept to completion as quickly as possible.
When working with Django, you might encounter the following error message in your logs or console:
django.core.exceptions.SuspiciousOperation: Invalid HTTP_HOST header: 'host'.
This error typically occurs when a request is made to your Django application with an HTTP_HOST header that is not recognized or allowed by your application settings.
The HTTP_HOST header is part of the HTTP request that specifies the domain name of the server (for virtual hosting), allowing the server to distinguish between different domains hosted on the same IP address. In Django, this header is used to determine the host of the incoming request.
Django raises a SuspiciousOperation
exception when the HTTP_HOST header does not match any of the domains specified in the ALLOWED_HOSTS
setting. This is a security measure to prevent HTTP Host header attacks, which can lead to cache poisoning, password reset poisoning, and other vulnerabilities.
The ALLOWED_HOSTS
setting in your settings.py
file is a list of strings representing the host/domain names that your Django site can serve. To resolve this issue, ensure that the host in the HTTP_HOST header is included in this list. For example:
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['yourdomain.com', 'www.yourdomain.com', 'localhost']
Replace yourdomain.com
with the actual domain name of your site.
For better security and flexibility, consider using environment variables to manage your ALLOWED_HOSTS
setting. This can be done using the python-decouple package. First, install the package:
pip install python-decouple
Then, update your settings.py
:
from decouple import config
ALLOWED_HOSTS = config('ALLOWED_HOSTS', default='').split(',')
And set the environment variable in your .env
file:
ALLOWED_HOSTS=yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com,localhost
After updating the ALLOWED_HOSTS
setting, restart your Django server and test the application by making requests to the domains specified. Ensure that the error no longer appears in your logs.
For more information on Django's security features and best practices, refer to the Django Security Documentation. Additionally, the Django ALLOWED_HOSTS setting provides further details on configuring this important setting.
(Perfect for DevOps & SREs)
(Perfect for DevOps & SREs)