diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a4e12929..b64308c1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics==0.65b0",
   "opentelemetry-semantic-conventions==0.65b0",
   "opentelemetry-opamp-client==0.3b0",
-  "protobuf>=6.33.5", # not our direct dep, prevents installing vulnerable proto versions (CVE‑2025‑4565, CVE-2026-0994)
+  "protobuf>=7.36.1", # not our direct dep, prevents installing vulnerable proto versions (CVE‑2025‑4565, CVE-2026-0994)
   "wrapt>=2.2.2",
 ]