diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f3302fe7fa..c6a84f0b09 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
         <hamcrest.version>1.3</hamcrest.version>
         <!-- okio version to match ce-kafka 7.8.x -->
         <okio.version>3.7.0</okio.version>
-        <protobuf.version>3.25.5</protobuf.version>
+        <protobuf.version>4.29.1</protobuf.version>
         <powermock.version>2.0.9</powermock.version>
         <!-- Potentially used by downstream projects -->
         <slf4j-api.version>${slf4j.version}</slf4j-api.version>