diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 84286c0..d099b19 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ mysql-connector-python==8.0.16
 numpy==1.16.3
 packaging==19.0
 pluggy==0.9.0
-protobuf==3.7.1
+protobuf==3.18.3
 py==1.8.0
 pyfaidx==0.5.5.2
 Pygments==2.3.1