diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ed5a415cf..b91fab001 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -21,3 +21,4 @@ ext-lib-src/
 .metals/
 metals.sbt
 .bsp/
+.vscode/
diff --git a/project/Dependencies.scala b/project/Dependencies.scala
index 2158da88d..29fd73044 100644
--- a/project/Dependencies.scala
+++ b/project/Dependencies.scala
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ object Dependencies {
   val ScalaTestVersion = "3.2.17"
   val TestContainersScalaTestVersion = "0.41.0"
   val mockitoVersion = "4.11.0" // check even https://github.com/scalatest/scalatestplus-mockito/releases
-  val protobufJavaVersion = "3.21.12"
+  val protobufJavaVersion = "3.25.2"
   val hoverflyVersion = "0.14.1"
   val scalaCheckVersion = "1.17.0"
 
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ object Dependencies {
       "org.apache.avro" % "avro" % AvroVersion % "provided",
       "org.apache.arrow" % "arrow-vector" % ArrowVersion % "provided",
       "io.grpc" % "grpc-auth" % org.apache.pekko.grpc.gen.BuildInfo.grpcVersion,
-      "com.google.protobuf" % "protobuf-java" % protobufJavaVersion,
+      "com.google.protobuf" % "protobuf-java" % protobufJavaVersion % Runtime,
       "org.apache.pekko" %% "pekko-discovery" % PekkoVersion,
       "org.apache.pekko" %% "pekko-http-spray-json" % PekkoHttpVersion,
       "org.apache.pekko" %% "pekko-http-core" % PekkoHttpVersion,
@@ -248,10 +248,10 @@ object Dependencies {
     // see Pekko gRPC version in plugins.sbt
     libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
       // https://github.com/googleapis/java-pubsub/tree/master/proto-google-cloud-pubsub-v1/
-      "com.google.cloud" % "google-cloud-pubsub" % "1.122.2" % "protobuf-src",
+      "com.google.cloud" % "google-cloud-pubsub" % "1.123.20" % "protobuf-src",
       "io.grpc" % "grpc-auth" % org.apache.pekko.grpc.gen.BuildInfo.grpcVersion,
       "com.google.auth" % "google-auth-library-oauth2-http" % GoogleAuthVersion,
-      "com.google.protobuf" % "protobuf-java" % protobufJavaVersion,
+      "com.google.protobuf" % "protobuf-java" % protobufJavaVersion % Runtime,
       // pull in Pekko Discovery for our Pekko version
       "org.apache.pekko" %% "pekko-discovery" % PekkoVersion))