diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a104bf9ca5..cf8a899ac6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ kill-trino-locally:
 	cd ${ROOT_DIR}; docker stop trino
 
 install-protoc-dependencies:
-	pip install --ignore-installed protobuf grpcio-tools==1.47.0 mypy-protobuf==3.1.0
+	pip install --ignore-installed protobuf==4.23.4 grpcio-tools==1.47.0 mypy-protobuf==3.1.0
 
 install-feast-ci-locally:
 	pip install -e ".[ci]"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index aee2ed0b3e..f10322ed8a 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@
     "pandas>=1.4.3,<2",
     # For some reason pandavro higher than 1.5.* only support pandas less than 1.3.
     "pandavro~=1.5.0",
-    "protobuf<5,>3.20",
+    # Higher than 4.23.4 seems to cause a seg fault
+    "protobuf<4.23.4,>3.20",
     "proto-plus>=1.20.0,<2",
     "pyarrow>=4,<12",
     "pydantic>=1,<2",