diff --git a/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_18.04_base.txt b/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_18.04_base.txt
index e8278dff254..ae305bfcf77 100644
--- a/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_18.04_base.txt
+++ b/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_18.04_base.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ libpython3-dev
 # pypanda dependencies
 genisoimage
 libffi-dev
+python3-protobuf
 
 
 # apt-rdepends qemu-system-common
diff --git a/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_20.04_base.txt b/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_20.04_base.txt
index aa430074f61..4e4dde4bd52 100644
--- a/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_20.04_base.txt
+++ b/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_20.04_base.txt
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ libpython3-dev
 # pypanda dependencies
 genisoimage
 libffi-dev
+python3-protobuf
 
 # Not sure what this one is needed for
 liblzo2-2
diff --git a/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_22.04_base.txt b/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_22.04_base.txt
index 6a804c5e8a1..d777c67439d 100644
--- a/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_22.04_base.txt
+++ b/panda/dependencies/ubuntu_22.04_base.txt
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ libpython3-dev
 # pypanda dependencies
 genisoimage
 libffi-dev
+python3-protobuf
 
 # Not sure what this one is needed for
 liblzo2-2