diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d6535a613b..87bf5c3641 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1087,16 +1087,11 @@
                 <scope>test</scope>
             </dependency>
 
-            <!-- transitive dependency through org.scalameta:trees_2.13
-                 upgrade to 3.16.1 to fix CVE-2021-22569 A potential Denial of Service issue in protobuf-java
-                 https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-wrvw-hg22-4m67
-                 upgrade to 3.16.3 to fix CVE-2022-3171 protobuf-java has a potential Denial of Service issue
-                 https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-h4h5-3hr4-j3g2
-            -->
+            <!-- transitive dependency through org.scalameta:trees_2.13 -->
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
                 <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
-                <version>3.25.5</version>
+                <version>4.28.2</version>
             </dependency>
 
             <!-- Make sure to use the correct version the JUnit5 needs. E.g. 5.11.2 needs 1.11.2