Django built in Logout view `Method Not Allowed (GET): /users/logout/` – Django

The Problem:

When accessing http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/logout/ user is faced with Method Not Allowed (GET): /users/logout/ error. User expects to successfully logout upon accessing the url, but instead the request is not handled correctly, returning a 405 error.

The Solutions:

Solution 1: Use POST request for logout

The Django built-in Logout view requires a **POST request** to log out a user, as it has side effects. The fact that it worked with a GET request in previous versions was a violation of the HTTP protocol. This allowed scripts to log out users without their consent, making it vulnerable to cross-site request forgery (CSRF).

To address this:

1. Use a mini-form in your template:

<form method="post" action="{% url 'logout' %}">
    {% csrf_token %}
    <button type="submit">logout</button>
</form>
  

2. Alter your URL configuration to use a POST request handler:

urlpatterns = [
    ...other urls...
    path('users/logout/', auth_views.LogoutView.as_view(), name='logout'),
]
  

These changes ensure that logging out a user requires an explicit action (clicking the button in the form) and protects against CSRF attacks.

Video Explanation:

The following video, titled "Logging in and Logging Out - Django Wednesdays Twitter #9 ...", provides additional insights and in-depth exploration related to the topics discussed in this post.

In this video I'll show you how to set up Loggin in and Logging out for our Musker Django Twitter Clone App. We'll be using the ...