Django JWT Authentication Issues After Database Restore

Based on your description, you're experiencing JWT authentication failures after restoring a production database to your local environment. This issue appears to be related to cryptographic signing compatibility between environments.

Possible Causes

The most likely cause is related to cryptographic signing keys that are used for JWT tokens. When you move a database between environments, several factors can cause authentication issues:

1. Different SECRET_KEY settings: Django uses the SECRET_KEY setting for cryptographic operations. If your local environment has a different SECRET_KEY than production, JWT tokens generated in one environment won't be valid in the other.

2. Different JWT signing keys: If you're using SimpleJWT with custom signing keys, these might differ between environments.

3. Password hashing differences: If the password hashing algorithms or configurations differ between environments, authentication can fail.

Solutions

Here are some approaches to resolve the issue:

1. Synchronize SECRET_KEY

Ensure your local environment uses the same SECRET_KEY as production when working with restored production data:

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# settings.py
SECRET_KEY = 'your-production-secret-key'  # Temporarily use production key for local testing

2. Check SimpleJWT Settings

Verify that your SimpleJWT settings are consistent between environments:

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# settings.py
SIMPLE_JWT = {
    'SIGNING_KEY': os.environ.get('JWT_SIGNING_KEY', SECRET_KEY),
    'ALGORITHM': 'HS256',
    # Other settings...
}

3. Check Password Hashers

Ensure your PASSWORD_HASHERS setting is consistent between environments:

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# settings.py
PASSWORD_HASHERS = [
    'django.contrib.auth.hashers.PBKDF2PasswordHasher',
    'django.contrib.auth.hashers.PBKDF2SHA1PasswordHasher',
    # Add any legacy hashers that might be in use in production
]

4. Tenant Configuration

Since you're using a multi-tenant setup, check if your tenant middleware is correctly identifying and setting the tenant context:

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# Verify tenant middleware is correctly setting the schema
# You might need to debug your tenant middleware to ensure it's using the correct schema

5. Reset User Passwords (Last Resort)

If all else fails, you might need to reset user passwords in your local environment:

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from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from django.contrib.auth.hashers import make_password

User = get_user_model()
# Set search path to your tenant schema first if needed
users = User.objects.all()
for user in users:
    user.password = make_password('temporary_password')
    user.save()

Additional Debugging Steps

1. Compare the JWT token payload between environments to identify differences
2. Check if your tenant middleware is correctly identifying the tenant
3. Verify that the user authentication backend is correctly configured
4. Examine the database schema to ensure all required tables and fields are present

This issue is reminiscent of the compatibility problems described in Django's documentation when cryptographic signing mechanisms change between versions, though in your case it's between environments rather than versions.