The theory of diffusion processes in solids has achieved significant results in recent decades, but the development of methods for calculating diffusion in a multicomponent thermodynamic system is still an urgent task. Problems of diffusion in solid and liquid solutions with small deviations from the equilibrium state, or fluctuations, are of significant interest. The work develops a general methodology for calculating diffusion flows in a multicomponent thermodynamic system for small deviations from the equilibrium state. A connection has been established between the mechanical approach to the analysis of generalized systems and the phenomenological equations of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Examples are given of the use of the developed methodology for the analysis of carbide transformations in chromium steel.