Development tools and frameworks usually have options to make debugging easier for developers. Although these features are useful during development, they should never be enabled for applications deployed in production. Debug instructions or error messages can leak detailed information about the system, like the application’s path or file names.

Ask Yourself Whether

There is a risk if you answered yes to any of those questions.

Recommended Secure Coding Practices

Do not enable debugging features on production servers or applications distributed to end users.

Sensitive Code Example

from django.conf import settings

settings.configure(DEBUG=True)  # Sensitive when set to True
settings.configure(DEBUG_PROPAGATE_EXCEPTIONS=True)  # Sensitive when set to True

def custom_config(config):
    settings.configure(default_settings=config, DEBUG=True)  # Sensitive

Django’s "settings.py" or "global_settings.py" configuration file:

# NOTE: The following code raises issues only if the file is named "settings.py" or "global_settings.py". This is the default
# name of Django configuration file

DEBUG = True  # Sensitive
DEBUG_PROPAGATE_EXCEPTIONS = True  # Sensitive

See