diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index a8421eae6..859592fb1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ on:
 
 
 env:
-  PROTOC_VERSION: '3.20.3'
+  PROTOC_VERSION: '3.25.3'
   clippy_rust_version: '1.80'
 
 jobs:
diff --git a/protobuf/build.rs b/protobuf/build.rs
index 158fc918c..0f329fe3b 100644
--- a/protobuf/build.rs
+++ b/protobuf/build.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use std::fs;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::Command;
 
-use anyhow::{ensure, Context, Result};
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let out_dir =
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let protobuf_dir = &out_dir.join(format!("protobuf-{}", version));
 
     if !protobuf_dir.exists() {
-        apply_patches(&src_dir)?;
-
         let build_dir = &out_dir.join(format!("build-protobuf-{}", version));
         fs::create_dir_all(build_dir).expect("failed to create build directory");
 
@@ -90,25 +88,6 @@ fn git_describe(src_dir: &Path) -> Result<String> {
     Ok(stdout.trim().to_string())
 }
 
-/// Apply patches to the protobuf source directory
-fn apply_patches(src_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
-    let mut patch_src = env::current_dir().context("failed to get current working directory")?;
-    patch_src.push("src");
-    patch_src.push("fix-conformance_test_runner-cmake-build.patch");
-
-    let rc = Command::new("patch")
-        .arg("-p1")
-        .arg("-i")
-        .arg(patch_src)
-        .current_dir(src_dir)
-        .status()
-        .context("failed to apply patch")?;
-    // exit code: 0 means success; 1 means already applied
-    ensure!(rc.code().unwrap() <= 1, "protobuf patch failed");
-
-    Ok(())
-}
-
 fn install_protoc_and_conformance_test_runner(
     src_dir: &Path,
     build_dir: &Path,
@@ -119,7 +98,9 @@ fn install_protoc_and_conformance_test_runner(
     let build_conformance = !cfg!(windows);
 
     // Build and install protoc, the protobuf libraries, and the conformance test runner.
-    cmake::Config::new(src_dir.join("cmake"))
+    cmake::Config::new(src_dir)
+        .define("CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD", "14")
+        .define("ABSL_PROPAGATE_CXX_STD", "ON")
         .define("CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX", prefix_dir)
         .define(
             "protobuf_BUILD_CONFORMANCE",
diff --git a/protobuf/src/fix-conformance_test_runner-cmake-build.patch b/protobuf/src/fix-conformance_test_runner-cmake-build.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 8c28991c9..000000000
--- a/protobuf/src/fix-conformance_test_runner-cmake-build.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-From 104a483fbf3b87d42b0c3381049c72ab45d0f630 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Dan Burkert <dan@danburkert.com>
-Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2020 13:44:02 -0800
-Subject: [PATCH] Fix conformance_test_runner CMake build
-
-Makes the conformance_test_runner declared sources in
-cmake/conformance.cmake match the corresponding sources in
-conformance/Makefile.am, which allows the test runner to build
-successfully with CMake.
----
- cmake/conformance.cmake | 9 ++++++---
- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
-
-diff --git a/cmake/conformance.cmake b/cmake/conformance.cmake
-index 82b4cf580..7be713d33 100644
---- a/cmake/conformance.cmake
-+++ b/cmake/conformance.cmake
-@@ -19,14 +19,17 @@ add_custom_command(
- )
- 
- add_executable(conformance_test_runner
--  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/conformance.pb.cc
-+  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/conformance_test.h
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/conformance_test.cc
--  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/binary_json_conformance_main.cc
--  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/binary_json_conformance_suite.cc
-+  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/conformance_test_main.cc
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/binary_json_conformance_suite.h
-+  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/binary_json_conformance_suite.cc
-+  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/text_format_conformance_suite.h
-+  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/text_format_conformance_suite.cc
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/conformance_test_runner.cc
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/third_party/jsoncpp/json.h
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/third_party/jsoncpp/jsoncpp.cpp
-+  ${protobuf_source_dir}/conformance/conformance.pb.cc
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/src/google/protobuf/test_messages_proto3.pb.cc
-   ${protobuf_source_dir}/src/google/protobuf/test_messages_proto2.pb.cc
- )
--- 
-2.21.1
-
diff --git a/third_party/protobuf b/third_party/protobuf
index 2514f0bd7..4a2aef570 160000
--- a/third_party/protobuf
+++ b/third_party/protobuf
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 2514f0bd7da7e2af1bed4c5d1b84f031c4d12c10
+Subproject commit 4a2aef570deb2bfb8927426558701e8bfc26f2a4