diff --git a/docs/changelog/2989.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/2989.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e92e74f07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/2989.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Upgrade embedded wheels:
+
+* pip to ``25.3`` from ``25.2``
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/__init__.py b/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/__init__.py
index 0dbab1477..ef6f78e86 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/__init__.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/__init__.py
@@ -12,27 +12,31 @@
         "wheel": "wheel-0.45.1-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
     "3.9": {
-        "pip": "pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
         "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
     "3.10": {
-        "pip": "pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
         "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
     "3.11": {
-        "pip": "pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
         "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
     "3.12": {
-        "pip": "pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
         "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
     "3.13": {
-        "pip": "pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
         "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
     "3.14": {
-        "pip": "pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
+        "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
+    },
+    "3.15": {
+        "pip": "pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl",
         "setuptools": "setuptools-80.9.0-py3-none-any.whl",
     },
 }
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl b/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl
similarity index 79%
rename from src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl
rename to src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl
index e14bb3f37..755e1aa0c 100644
Binary files a/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.2-py3-none-any.whl and b/src/virtualenv/seed/wheels/embed/pip-25.3-py3-none-any.whl differ
diff --git a/tasks/upgrade_wheels.py b/tasks/upgrade_wheels.py
index e752b1dd1..071e09b71 100644
--- a/tasks/upgrade_wheels.py
+++ b/tasks/upgrade_wheels.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 STRICT = "UPGRADE_ADVISORY" not in os.environ
 
 BUNDLED = ["pip", "setuptools", "wheel"]
-SUPPORT = [(3, i) for i in range(8, 15)]
+SUPPORT = [(3, i) for i in range(8, 16)]
 DEST = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "src" / "virtualenv" / "seed" / "wheels" / "embed"
 
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/create/test_creator.py b/tests/unit/create/test_creator.py
index a80ab16ee..c72e830bc 100644
--- a/tests/unit/create/test_creator.py
+++ b/tests/unit/create/test_creator.py
@@ -440,7 +440,6 @@ def test_create_distutils_cfg(creator, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         "--disable-pip-version-check",
         "install",
         str(dest),
-        "--no-use-pep517",
         "-vv",
     ]
     subprocess.check_call(install_demo_cmd)