diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index c77ec5c..f5eee0b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
         <!-- dependency properties -->
         <typesafe-config.version>1.3.1</typesafe-config.version>
         <metrics-core.version>3.0.2</metrics-core.version>
-        <protobuf.version>3.3.1</protobuf.version>
+        <protobuf.version>3.16.3</protobuf.version>
         <slf4j.version>1.7.25</slf4j.version>
         <commons-codec.version>1.4</commons-codec.version>
         <guava.version>19.0</guava.version>