diff --git a/hudi-kafka-connect/pom.xml b/hudi-kafka-connect/pom.xml
index 5be572a0690e8..227961c7740f6 100644
--- a/hudi-kafka-connect/pom.xml
+++ b/hudi-kafka-connect/pom.xml
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@
                 <groupId>com.github.os72</groupId>
                 <artifactId>protoc-jar-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>3.11.4</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <protocArtifact>com.google.protobuf:protoc:3.21.1</protocArtifact>
+                </configuration>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <phase>generate-sources</phase>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6489e632b45fd..8224058fb56e7 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -192,8 +192,8 @@
     <zk-curator.version>2.7.1</zk-curator.version>
     <antlr.version>4.7</antlr.version>
     <aws.sdk.version>1.12.22</aws.sdk.version>
-    <proto.version>3.17.3</proto.version>
-    <protoc.version>3.11.4</protoc.version>
+    <proto.version>3.21.1</proto.version>
+    <protoc.version>3.21.1</protoc.version>
     <dynamodb.lockclient.version>1.1.0</dynamodb.lockclient.version>
     <zookeeper.version>3.5.7</zookeeper.version>
     <dynamodb-local.port>8000</dynamodb-local.port>