diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix
index 71f8e90b774a..7fcabb9f1836 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/generic.nix
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "protocolbuffers";
     repo = "protobuf";
-    rev = "v${version}";
+    rev = "refs/tags/v${version}";
     inherit hash;
   };
 
@@ -89,9 +89,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   passthru = {
     tests = {
-      pythonProtobuf = python3.pkgs.protobuf.override (_: {
-        protobuf = finalAttrs.finalPackage;
-      });
+      pythonProtobuf = python3.pkgs.protobuf;
       inherit grpc;
     };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index ce1cdfdeff14..9f43ea8d398c 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -23147,7 +23147,7 @@ with pkgs;
 
   prospector = callPackage ../development/tools/prospector { };
 
-  protobuf = protobuf_25;
+  protobuf = protobuf_28;
 
   inherit
     ({
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 079d58d61c12..b5e3f377a07b 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -10894,7 +10894,7 @@ self: super: with self; {
   protobuf5 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/protobuf/default.nix { };
 
   # If a protobuf upgrade causes many Python packages to fail, please pin it here to the previous version.
-  protobuf = protobuf4;
+  protobuf = protobuf5;
 
   protobuf3-to-dict = callPackage ../development/python-modules/protobuf3-to-dict { };