In the last three decades, powerful computer-assisted techniques have been developed in order to validate a posteriori numerical solutions of semilinear elliptic problems of the form ∆u+f (u, ∇u) = 0. By studying a well chosen fixed point problem defined around the numerical solution, these techniques make it possible to prove the existence of a solution in an explicit (and usually small) neighborhood the numerical solution. In this work, we develop a similar approach for a broader class of systems, including nonlinear diffusion terms of the form ∆Φ(u). In particular, this enables us to obtain new results about steady states of a cross-diffusion system from population dynamics: the (non-triangular) SKT model. We also revisit the idea of automatic differentiation in the context of computer-assisted proof, and propose an alternative approach based on differential-algebraic equations.