diff --git a/python/nav/django/settings.py b/python/nav/django/settings.py
index d9aacb4ef5..da04da10e0 100644
--- a/python/nav/django/settings.py
+++ b/python/nav/django/settings.py
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@
     'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
 )
 
-SESSION_SERIALIZER = 'django.contrib.sessions.serializers.PickleSerializer'
+SESSION_SERIALIZER = 'nav.web.session_serializer.PickleSerializer'
 SESSION_ENGINE = 'django.contrib.sessions.backends.db'
 SESSION_COOKIE_AGE = int(_webfront_config.get('sessions', {}).get('timeout', 3600))
 SESSION_COOKIE_NAME = 'nav_sessionid'
diff --git a/python/nav/web/session_serializer.py b/python/nav/web/session_serializer.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98fefec8b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/nav/web/session_serializer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import pickle
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+
+
+class PickleSerializer:
+    """
+    Simple wrapper around pickle to be used in signing.dumps()/loads() and
+    cache backends.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, protocol=None):
+        if settings.SESSION_ENGINE == 'django.contrib.sessions.backends.signed_cookies':
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+                "PickleSerializer cannot be used with signed_cookies SESSION_ENGINE"
+            )
+        self.protocol = pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL if protocol is None else protocol
+
+    def dumps(self, obj):
+        return pickle.dumps(obj, self.protocol)
+
+    def loads(self, data):
+        return pickle.loads(data)