diff --git a/gapic-generator-java-pom-parent/pom.xml b/gapic-generator-java-pom-parent/pom.xml
index 6b1bf405b9..e47c703a46 100644
--- a/gapic-generator-java-pom-parent/pom.xml
+++ b/gapic-generator-java-pom-parent/pom.xml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
     <google.http-client.version>1.45.2</google.http-client.version>
     <gson.version>2.11.0</gson.version>
     <guava.version>33.3.1-jre</guava.version>
-    <protobuf.version>3.25.5</protobuf.version>
+    <protobuf.version>4.28.3</protobuf.version>
     <opentelemetry.version>1.45.0</opentelemetry.version>
     <maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>
     <errorprone.version>2.36.0</errorprone.version>
diff --git a/gax-java/gax/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/com.google.api/gax/native-image.properties b/gax-java/gax/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/com.google.api/gax/native-image.properties
index 3ddbffe0b8..75b882d8a4 100644
--- a/gax-java/gax/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/com.google.api/gax/native-image.properties
+++ b/gax-java/gax/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/com.google.api/gax/native-image.properties
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@ Args = --enable-url-protocols=https,http \
   org.junit.platform.engine.TestTag,\
   com.google.api.gax.core.GaxProperties,\
   com.google.common.base.Platform,\
-  com.google.common.base.Platform$JdkPatternCompiler,\
-  com.google.protobuf.RuntimeVersion \
+  com.google.common.base.Platform$JdkPatternCompiler \
   --features=com.google.api.gax.nativeimage.OpenCensusFeature,\
   com.google.api.gax.nativeimage.GoogleJsonClientFeature \
   --add-modules=jdk.httpserver