Deployed Django Rest Framework API gives "Server got itself in trouble" on any call with payload

I am deploying my Django Rest API to a web server running on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Linux and using the Apache web server. This web server is external; I have not set it up, and so some of the details on how it works is a blackbox to me.

I have run into a very annoying error in which I will get a 500 error saying "Server got itself in trouble" whenever I add payload to any sort of request. It doesn't matter the method: it can be a GET, POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE and it will still run into the error...

However, when I run a request without a payload, I don't run into this error (I run into expected errors for not including expected request data instead)...

Here are some details on the server, that could give insight:

• The app runs within a Gunicorn container
• Client requests go to a reverse proxy and they are redirected to the app
• The app handles incoming requests and is listening out for them

Here is also the settings.py I am using. I have DEBUG=True for now to try to get to the root of the issue...

"""
Django settings for server project.

Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 5.1.4.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/topics/settings/

For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/ref/settings/
"""

from pathlib import Path
from datetime import timedelta
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet
import sys
import environ 
import os

env = environ.Env()
environ.Env.read_env()

USE_X_FORWARDED_HOST = True

# Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent

# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'django-insecure-(ltwgqma)#6=y3!dcw4b&8sog&%y@i51d1ye*(w_fk$9p0tvip'

ENCRYPTED_FIELDS_KEY = env('ENCRYPTED_FIELDS_KEY')

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'daphne',
    'django_eventstream',
    
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    
    'django_extensions',
    
    'django_apscheduler',
    'rest_framework',
    'rest_framework_simplejwt.token_blacklist',
    'corsheaders',
    
    'apps.api'
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'server.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

# WSGI_APPLICATION = 'server.wsgi.application'
ASGI_APPLICATION = "server.asgi.application"

# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'HOST': 'server.com',
        'NAME': env('DB_NAME'),
        'USER': env('DB_USERNAME'),
        'PASSWORD': env('DB_PASSWORD')
    }
}

# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.1/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]


LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
USE_I18N = True
USE_TZ = True

FIXTURE_DIRS = [
    'fixtures'
]

STATIC_URL = 'static/'

MEDIA_ROOT =  os.path.join(os.path.dirname(BASE_DIR), "server/media")

DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'

CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS = True

AUTH_USER_MODEL = "users.User"

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_PERMISSION_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.permissions.AllowAny',
    ],
     'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTAuthentication',
    ],
    'DEFAULT_RENDERER_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.renderers.JSONRenderer',
    ],
    'DEFAULT_PARSER_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.parsers.JSONParser',
    ]
}
SIMPLE_JWT = {
     'ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME': timedelta(minutes=10),
     'REFRESH_TOKEN_LIFETIME': timedelta(days=1),
     'ROTATE_REFRESH_TOKENS': True,
     'BLACKLIST_AFTER_ROTATION': False,
     
     'USER_ID_FIELD': 'user_id'
}

LOGGING = {
    "version": 1,
    "disable_existing_loggers": False,
    "handlers": {
        "console": {
            "class": "logging.StreamHandler",
        },
    },
    "root": {
        "handlers": ["console"],
        "level": "WARNING",
    },
}

if 'test' in sys.argv:
    DATABASES['default'] = {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': 'test'
    }

There are logs I can access, but there is nothing there other than api/users 404: Bad request that indicate the error.

Thank you to anyone who can help me get to the bottom on this!

if not request.user.is_authenticated:
    return JsonResponse({"error": "User not authenticated"}, status=401)