fix: avoid anonymous completion lookup in navigation

[meet0208]

Description

This PR fixes course outline loading for anonymous users in the Learning MFE by preventing a server error in the course navigation API.

Previously, anonymous requests to GET /api/course_home/v1/navigation/{course_key} could raise a 500 when completion data was queried with AnonymousUser. This caused the course outline sidebar to fail to render for logged-out users, even when course visibility and waffle settings allowed public access.

This change adds an anonymous-user guard in CourseNavigationBlocksView.completions_dict:

• If request.user is anonymous, return an empty completion map ({}).
• Keep existing outline access filtering logic (filter_inaccessible_blocks) unchanged to preserve access control.

Implications

• Anonymous users now receive a valid navigation payload instead of a 500.
• Visibility/access restrictions continue to be enforced by existing processors and filtering.
• No behavior change for authenticated learners/staff.

Supporting information

Relevant code / endpoint

• File: lms/djangoapps/course_home_api/outline/views.py
• Endpoint: GET /api/course_home/v1/navigation/{course_key}
• Root cause: completion lookup attempted for AnonymousUser

Configuration context (unchanged)

• seo.enable_anonymous_courseware_access enabled
• Course visibility set to public or public_outline

Testing instructions

1. Ensure the course is configured with:

   • visibility set to public (or public_outline)
   • waffle flag seo.enable_anonymous_courseware_access enabled

2. Open the courseware URL in an incognito / logged-out browser session.

3. Confirm GET /api/course_home/v1/navigation/{course_key} returns 200 (not 500).

4. Verify the outline sidebar renders in the Learning MFE.

5. Log in as a learner and as staff/admin and confirm outline behavior is unchanged.

6. Optional regression checks:

   • Confirm hidden/inaccessible content remains filtered as before.
   • Confirm no new traceback appears in LMS logs for anonymous navigation requests.

Deadline

None.

Other information

User roles impacted

• Learner: Yes (logged-out / public access flow)
• Course Author: No direct impact
• Developer: Yes (API behavior and debugging flow)
• Operator: Yes (reduced 500s in logs for anonymous navigation requests)

UI changes

• UI impact: course outline now renders for anonymous users on eligible public / public_outline courses.

• Suggested screenshots to attach:

  1. Before: anonymous courseware page with missing/empty outline + API 500
  2. After: anonymous courseware page with outline visible + API 200
  3. Network tab response for /api/course_home/v1/navigation/{course_key} (before vs after)

Configuration changes

• None.

Dependencies / special concerns

• No dependency on other PRs.
• No deprecations or migrations.
• Security/access control is unchanged (no relaxation of access restrictions); this only prevents anonymous completion lookup failures.
• No API contract changes.

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[mphilbrick211]

Hi @meet0208! Thank you for this contribution!

It looks like you're contributing on behalf of an organization. If so, could you please have your manager reach out to oscm@axim.org to have you added to our existing entity agreement? That way, we can get your CLA check to turn green.

[e0d]

@meet0208 you've been added to the entity CLA and that should be reflected in GitHub this evening.

[meet0208]

@e0d or @mphilbrick211 Hey can you approve a re run for this PR.

[ChrisChV]

Hi @meet0208, I can't reproduce the bug:

Previously, anonymous requests to GET /api/course_home/v1/navigation/{course_key} could raise a 500 when completion data was queried with AnonymousUser

I tested it with the current master branch and got a 200 with an empty response. Can you verify it?

[navinkarkera]

@meet0208 Thank you for your contribution. I was able to reproduce this issue in master.

@ChrisChV Here are the steps:

1. Enable anonymous courseware waffle flag seo.enable_anonymous_courseware_access
2. Set course visibility to public in course advanced settings
3. Hit navigation API:

  curl -i "http://localhost:18000/api/course_home/v1/navigation/course-v1:edX+DemoX+Demo_Course"

1. OR you can open the course outline (lms) in a private browsing window, then check the LMS logs, you'll see below error:

lms-1  |   File "/openedx/edx-platform/lms/djangoapps/course_home_api/outline/views.py", line 618, in completions_dict
lms-1  |     completions = BlockCompletion.objects.filter(user=self.request.user, context_key=course_key).values_list(
lms-1  |                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/manager.py", line 87, in manager_method
lms-1  |     return getattr(self.get_queryset(), name)(*args, **kwargs)
lms-1  |            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 1495, in filter
lms-1  |     return self._filter_or_exclude(False, args, kwargs)
lms-1  |            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 1513, in _filter_or_exclude
lms-1  |     clone._filter_or_exclude_inplace(negate, args, kwargs)
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 1523, in _filter_or_exclude_inplace
lms-1  |     self._query.add_q(Q(*args, **kwargs))
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1648, in add_q
lms-1  |     clause, _ = self._add_q(q_object, can_reuse)
lms-1  |                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1680, in _add_q
lms-1  |     child_clause, needed_inner = self.build_filter(
lms-1  |                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1590, in build_filter
lms-1  |     condition = self.build_lookup(lookups, col, value)
lms-1  |                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/query.py", line 1417, in build_lookup
lms-1  |     lookup = lookup_class(lhs, rhs)
lms-1  |              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/lookups.py", line 38, in __init__
lms-1  |     self.rhs = self.get_prep_lookup()
lms-1  |                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/related_lookups.py", line 112, in get_prep_lookup
lms-1  |     self.rhs = target_field.get_prep_value(self.rhs)
lms-1  |                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lms-1  |   File "/openedx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py", line 2130, in get_prep_value
lms-1  |     raise e.__class__(
lms-1  | TypeError: Field 'id' expected a number but got <django.contrib.auth.models.AnonymousUser object at 0x7fb35bd1fc50>.

@meet0208 Could you please add a test in lms/djangoapps/course_home_api/outline/tests/test_view.py for this change.

[navinkarkera]

@meet0208 Could you please add a test in lms/djangoapps/course_home_api/outline/tests/test_view.py for this change.

@meet0208 Gentle reminder

[meet0208]

@navinkarkera Hey, I added a test case can you review and let me know.

[navinkarkera]

@meet0208 Thanks! Can you please rebase with master.

[meet0208]

@navinkarkera I did can you check now.

[meet0208]

@navinkarkera Why the tests are failing to install "No matching distribution found for django-autocomplete-light==4.0.1" ? Even I rebased my branch with master.

[navinkarkera]

@meet0208 It is an issue with the master branch. Once #38779 is merged, we can rebase here and see if the CI passes.

[meet0208]

@navinkarkera #38779 this is merged can you run pipeline now.

[meet0208]

@navinkarkera One test case failed as my test was mocked BlockCompletion.objects.filter around the full API request. In other words, the test was exercising more than the specific guard. So, can you rerun the CI now.

[meet0208]

@navinkarkera All the test cases are passed.

[navinkarkera]

@meet0208 Thanks for you work!