diff --git a/src/MODULE.bazel b/src/MODULE.bazel
index 94f72f81e..dac43a4e0 100644
--- a/src/MODULE.bazel
+++ b/src/MODULE.bazel
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ bazel_dep(
     repo_name = "com_google_absl",
 )
 
-# protobuf: 29.1 2024-12-04
+# protobuf: 30.0-rc1 2025-02-05
 # https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf
-# Note, 29.3 was rolled back due to the build failure on Windows.
+# Use 30.0-rc1 since 29.x is not buildable with Abseil 20250127.0.
 bazel_dep(
     name = "protobuf",
-    version = "29.1",
+    version = "30.0-rc1",
     repo_name = "com_google_protobuf",
 )