diff --git a/requirements/pytorch/extra.txt b/requirements/pytorch/extra.txt
index f211f5654adec..b547e7a62f2ed 100644
--- a/requirements/pytorch/extra.txt
+++ b/requirements/pytorch/extra.txt
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ hydra-core>=1.0.5, <1.3.0
 jsonargparse[signatures]>=4.12.0, <=4.12.0
 gcsfs>=2021.5.0, <2022.8.0
 rich>=10.14.0, !=10.15.0.a, <13.0.0
+protobuf<=3.20.1 # strict  # an extra is updating protobuf, this pin prevents TensorBoard failure