diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 12b040c..c0b08c5 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -693,7 +693,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
             <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
-            <version>2.6.1</version>
+            <version>3.16.3</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Logging related dependencies -->