CVE-2025-53541 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting Enalean's Tuleap software, an open-source suite designed for software development management and collaboration. The vulnerability arises from improper neutralization of input during web page generation (CWE-79), specifically when displaying child artifacts of a parent artifact. Malicious users who have some level of control over certain artifacts can inject malicious scripts that execute in the context of other users viewing those artifacts. This can lead to unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim user, potentially impacting the integrity and availability of the affected system. The vulnerability affects Tuleap Community Edition versions prior to 16.9.99.1751892857 and Tuleap Enterprise Edition versions prior to 16.8-5 and 16.9-3. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.4, indicating a medium severity level. The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity, requiring privileges (PR:L) and user interaction (UI:R). The scope is changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability affects resources beyond the security scope of the vulnerable component. The impact affects integrity and availability but not confidentiality. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. This vulnerability allows an attacker with limited privileges to inject malicious scripts that execute when other users view the affected artifacts, potentially enabling session hijacking, unauthorized actions, or denial of service through script execution. The vulnerability is fixed in the specified newer versions of Tuleap Community and Enterprise Editions.

For European organizations using Tuleap for software development and collaboration, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized script execution within their project management environments. This can lead to compromised user sessions, unauthorized modification of project artifacts, or disruption of collaboration workflows. Since Tuleap is often used in development and operational environments, exploitation could indirectly affect the integrity of software development lifecycles, potentially introducing risks to downstream software products. The requirement for some level of privilege and user interaction limits the ease of exploitation but does not eliminate the risk, especially in environments with many users and complex artifact management. The impact on availability, while rated medium, could disrupt critical project management activities. Confidentiality is not directly impacted, but integrity and availability concerns could have cascading effects on organizational operations. European organizations with sensitive or critical development projects could face operational delays and increased risk of insider threat exploitation or lateral movement within their networks if this vulnerability is exploited.

1. Upgrade to the fixed versions of Tuleap Community Edition (16.9.99.1751892857 or later) or Enterprise Edition (16.8-5 or 16.9-3 or later) as soon as possible to eliminate the vulnerability. 2. Implement strict access controls and least privilege principles to limit which users can create or modify artifacts, reducing the risk of malicious input insertion. 3. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules tuned to detect and block XSS payloads targeting Tuleap interfaces. 4. Conduct regular code reviews and input validation audits for custom Tuleap plugins or integrations to ensure no additional injection vectors exist. 5. Educate users about the risks of interacting with untrusted artifacts and encourage caution when clicking on links or viewing artifact details, especially from less trusted users. 6. Monitor logs and user activity for unusual patterns that may indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability. 7. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider temporary mitigations such as disabling artifact child display features or restricting artifact modification capabilities to trusted users only.