diff --git a/conda/environments/cudf_dev_cuda11.5.yml b/conda/environments/cudf_dev_cuda11.5.yml
index 38a9da068cd..ad9986c3e27 100644
--- a/conda/environments/cudf_dev_cuda11.5.yml
+++ b/conda/environments/cudf_dev_cuda11.5.yml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ dependencies:
   - dask-cuda
   - mimesis<4.1
   - packaging
-  - protobuf
+  - protobuf>=3.20.1,<3.21.0a0
   - nvtx>=0.2.1
   - cachetools
   - transformers<=4.10.3
diff --git a/conda/recipes/cudf/meta.yaml b/conda/recipes/cudf/meta.yaml
index b890c34f06a..8f1c1e41995 100644
--- a/conda/recipes/cudf/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda/recipes/cudf/meta.yaml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ requirements:
     - {{ compiler('cxx') }}
     - sysroot_{{ target_platform }} {{ sysroot_version }}
   host:
-    - protobuf
+    - protobuf>=3.20.1,<3.21.0a0
     - python
     - cython >=0.29,<0.30
     - setuptools
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ requirements:
     - rmm {{ minor_version }}
     - cudatoolkit {{ cuda_version }}
   run:
-    - protobuf
+    - protobuf>=3.20.1,<3.21.0a0
     - python
     - typing_extensions
     - pandas >=1.0,<1.5.0dev0
diff --git a/python/cudf/setup.py b/python/cudf/setup.py
index 4a5a0d2186f..9a30fde3121 100644
--- a/python/cudf/setup.py
+++ b/python/cudf/setup.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
     "nvtx>=0.2.1",
     "packaging",
     "pandas>=1.0,<1.5.0dev0",
-    "protobuf",
+    "protobuf>=3.20.1,<3.21.0a0",
     "typing_extensions",
 ]