CVE-2025-53541 Overview
CVE-2025-53541 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] in Tuleap, an open source suite for software development management and collaboration. Users with limited control over certain artifacts can inject malicious code that executes when victims view the children of a parent artifact. The flaw affects both Tuleap Community Edition and Tuleap Enterprise Edition. Enalean has released fixed versions to address the issue.
Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in a victim's browser session, enabling session data theft, UI manipulation, and pivoting into higher-privileged Tuleap functions.
Affected Products
- Tuleap Community Edition prior to version 16.9.99.1751892857
- Tuleap Enterprise Edition prior to 16.8-5
- Tuleap Enterprise Edition prior to 16.9-3
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-07-29 - CVE-2025-53541 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-53541
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability is a stored cross-site scripting flaw in Tuleap's artifact display logic. When Tuleap renders the children of a parent artifact, user-controlled artifact content is inserted into the response without adequate output encoding. An authenticated user with write access to a child artifact can embed malicious markup that later executes in the browser of any user viewing the parent's child listing.
Exploitation requires user interaction, since the payload only fires when a victim navigates to the affected view. The scope is changed because injected script runs in the Tuleap application origin and can access resources beyond the attacker's own permissions. Consequences include theft of session identifiers, forged requests against Tuleap APIs, and manipulation of tracker data visible to the victim.
Root Cause
The root cause is improper neutralization of input during web page generation [CWE-79] in the code path that renders artifact children. Attacker-supplied field values are emitted into HTML without contextual escaping, so payloads such as event handlers or <script> fragments survive into the DOM. The upstream fix is applied in commit c1aec8247697d63dc4af791ecd6bd70d105ded08, referenced in the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-6r66-j76j-rwhw.
Attack Vector
The attack vector is network-based and requires low-privileged authentication plus victim interaction. An attacker with permission to create or edit a child artifact stores a crafted payload in an affected field. When another Tuleap user, potentially with higher privileges, views the parent artifact's children, the payload executes in that user's browser context. See the Tuleap tracker issue for additional technical context.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-53541
Indicators of Compromise
- Artifact field values containing HTML tags, <script> fragments, javascript: URIs, or DOM event handlers such as onerror, onload, or onmouseover.
- Unexpected outbound HTTP requests from browsers of Tuleap users immediately after viewing artifact hierarchies.
- Anomalous Tuleap API activity performed under a valid session shortly after a child-artifact page load.
Detection Strategies
- Query the Tuleap artifact database for stored field values matching XSS signatures, focusing on trackers where child relationships are used.
- Inspect web server access logs for requests to parent artifact child views followed by suspicious cross-origin requests from the same client.
- Enable a Content Security Policy (CSP) in report-only mode to surface inline script execution attempts against the Tuleap origin.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Monitor Tuleap application logs for artifact edits by low-privileged users that introduce HTML or JavaScript syntax into text fields.
- Alert on authenticated session activity that deviates from a user's normal API usage, such as bulk artifact reads or permission changes.
- Track version metadata across Tuleap deployments to confirm all instances are running a fixed release.
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-53541
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade Tuleap Community Edition to version 16.9.99.1751892857 or later.
- Upgrade Tuleap Enterprise Edition to 16.8-5, 16.9-3, or later depending on the deployed branch.
- Audit recently modified artifacts for stored payloads and sanitize or remove suspicious field values.
- Rotate active session tokens for users who viewed potentially poisoned artifact hierarchies.
Patch Information
Enalean has released fixed versions in Tuleap Community Edition 16.9.99.1751892857, Tuleap Enterprise Edition 16.8-5, and Tuleap Enterprise Edition 16.9-3. The corrective change is published in commit c1aec8247697d63dc4af791ecd6bd70d105ded08. Refer to the GitHub Security Advisory for authoritative version guidance.
Workarounds
- Restrict artifact creation and edit permissions on trackers that participate in parent-child relationships to trusted users until patching is complete.
- Deploy a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts to reduce the impact of stored payloads.
- Instruct users to avoid opening child-artifact views on unfamiliar trackers until upgrades are verified.
# Configuration example: verify installed Tuleap version before and after upgrade
rpm -q tuleap || dpkg -l | grep tuleap
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
