diff --git a/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml b/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml
index fe56c6b1e..0d8c91357 100644
--- a/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>io.github.ascopes</groupId>
                 <artifactId>protobuf-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.10.2</version>
+                <version>4.0.0</version>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <goals>
diff --git a/powertools-kafka/pom.xml b/powertools-kafka/pom.xml
index fd001f575..3a8478e30 100644
--- a/powertools-kafka/pom.xml
+++ b/powertools-kafka/pom.xml
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>io.github.ascopes</groupId>
                 <artifactId>protobuf-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.10.2</version>
+                <version>4.0.0</version>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <id>generate-test-sources</id>