diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 8ba4883..dd7c104 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
       <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
-      <version>3.16.1</version>
+      <version>3.16.3</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency> <!-- necessary for Java 9+ -->
       <groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId>