diff --git a/core/pom.xml b/core/pom.xml
index dfd04184f09..b5002ba423b 100644
--- a/core/pom.xml
+++ b/core/pom.xml
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
             <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
-            <version>2.6.1</version>
+            <version>3.16.1</version>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>