diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index c684f600..65e32294 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ buildscript {
             classpath(libs.netty) {
                 because("Version 4.1.100.Final patches a high-level security vulnerability")
             }
+            classpath(libs.protobuf.java) {
+                because("Version 3.25.5 patches a high-level security vulnerability")
+            }
             classpath(libs.bouncycastle) {
                 because("Version 1.78 patches three moderate security vulnerabilities")
             }
diff --git a/gradle/libs.versions.toml b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
index f7b9c7ba..affa2a7b 100644
--- a/gradle/libs.versions.toml
+++ b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ commons-compress = { module = "org.apache.commons:commons-compress", version = "
 guava = { module = "com.google.guava:guava", version = "latest.release" }
 jsoup = { module = "org.jsoup:jsoup", version = "latest.release" }
 netty = { module = "io.netty:netty-codec-http2", version = "4.1.+" }
+protobuf-java = { module = "com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java", version = "3+" }
 
 [bundles]
 classpath = [