diff --git a/.github/bin/build-and-test.sh b/.github/bin/build-and-test.sh
index f24b2a046..8f8c72363 100755
--- a/.github/bin/build-and-test.sh
+++ b/.github/bin/build-and-test.sh
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ if [[ "${CXX}" == clang* ]]; then
   BAZEL_OPTS="${BAZEL_OPTS} --cxxopt=-Wno-unused-function"  # utf8_range dependency
 fi
 
+# Protobuf triggers a maybe-uninitialized warning.
+BAZEL_OPTS="${BAZEL_OPTS} --cxxopt=-Wno-uninitialized"
+
 # If parameter given and the MODE allows choosing, we build the target
 # as provided, otherwise all. This allows manual invocation of interesting
 # targets.
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ case "$MODE" in
   compile|compile-clang|clean)
     bazel build --keep_going $BAZEL_OPTS :install-binaries
     ;;
-  
+
   compile-static|compile-static-clang)
     bazel build --keep_going --config=create_static_linked_executables $BAZEL_OPTS :install-binaries
     ;;
diff --git a/.github/settings.sh b/.github/settings.sh
index beb0098df..80cb80c99 100644
--- a/.github/settings.sh
+++ b/.github/settings.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export BAZEL_CXXOPTS="-std=c++17"
 export BAZEL_OPTS="-c opt --noshow_progress"
 
 # Used to fetch the BAZEL version where needed.
-export BAZEL_VERSION=4.0.0
+export BAZEL_VERSION=5.4.1
 
 # Kythe version for extracting xRefs
 export KYTHE_VERSION=v0.0.52
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bcaa6dc38..309e96dcd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ guide and the [development resources](./doc/development.md).
 
 Verible's code base is written in C++.
 
-To build, you need the [bazel] (>= 4.0) build system and a C++17 compatible
+To build, you need the [bazel] (>= 5.0) build system and a C++17 compatible
 compiler (e.g. >= g++-10), as well as python3.
 
 Use your package manager to install the dependencies; on a system with
diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 089199712..4d362a8bf 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -43,11 +43,10 @@ http_archive(
     patch_args = ["-p1"],
     patches = [
         "//bazel:absl.patch",
-        "//bazel:fix-uninitialized-var.patch",
     ],
-    sha256 = "e46fe4fd52b94dc344429b74b9520bead577f1db622def7a69bdefae6908836c",
-    strip_prefix = "abseil-cpp-35e8e3f7a2c6972d4c591448e8bbe4f9ed9f815a",
-    urls = ["https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp/archive/35e8e3f7a2c6972d4c591448e8bbe4f9ed9f815a.zip"],
+    sha256 = "987ce98f02eefbaf930d6e38ab16aa05737234d7afbab2d5c4ea7adbe50c28ed",
+    strip_prefix = "abseil-cpp-20230802.1",
+    urls = ["https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp/archive/refs/tags/20230802.1.tar.gz"],
 )
 
 http_archive(
@@ -59,9 +58,9 @@ http_archive(
 
 http_archive(
     name = "com_google_googletest",
-    sha256 = "24564e3b712d3eb30ac9a85d92f7d720f60cc0173730ac166f27dda7fed76cb2",
-    strip_prefix = "googletest-release-1.12.1",
-    urls = ["https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/refs/tags/release-1.12.1.zip"],
+    sha256 = "1f357c27ca988c3f7c6b4bf68a9395005ac6761f034046e9dde0896e3aba00e4",
+    strip_prefix = "googletest-1.14.0",
+    urls = ["https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/refs/tags/v1.14.0.zip"],
 )
 
 http_archive(
@@ -140,10 +139,10 @@ bison_register_toolchains()
 
 http_archive(
     name = "com_google_protobuf",
-    sha256 = "a700a49470d301f1190a487a923b5095bf60f08f4ae4cac9f5f7c36883d17971",
-    strip_prefix = "protobuf-23.4",
+    sha256 = "9bd87b8280ef720d3240514f884e56a712f2218f0d693b48050c836028940a42",
+    strip_prefix = "protobuf-25.1",
     urls = [
-        "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v23.4/protobuf-23.4.tar.gz",
+        "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v25.1/protobuf-25.1.tar.gz",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -153,10 +152,10 @@ protobuf_deps()
 
 http_archive(
     name = "rules_proto",
-    sha256 = "e017528fd1c91c5a33f15493e3a398181a9e821a804eb7ff5acdd1d2d6c2b18d",
-    strip_prefix = "rules_proto-4.0.0-3.20.0",
+    sha256 = "dc3fb206a2cb3441b485eb1e423165b231235a1ea9b031b4433cf7bc1fa460dd",
+    strip_prefix = "rules_proto-5.3.0-21.7",
     urls = [
-        "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_proto/archive/refs/tags/4.0.0-3.20.0.tar.gz",
+        "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_proto/archive/refs/tags/5.3.0-21.7.tar.gz",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/bazel/fix-uninitialized-var.patch b/bazel/fix-uninitialized-var.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 42026d85e..000000000
--- a/bazel/fix-uninitialized-var.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/absl/base/call_once.h b/absl/base/call_once.h
-index 96109f53..31d86726 100644
---- a/absl/base/call_once.h
-+++ b/absl/base/call_once.h
-@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ class SchedulingHelper {
- 
-  private:
-   base_internal::SchedulingMode mode_;
-+  // NOLINTNEXTLINE(clang-analyzer-optin.cplusplus.UninitializedObject)
-   bool guard_result_;
- };
- 
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
index 3e36d3829..955c4a7f5 100644
--- a/shell.nix
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ verible_used_stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "verible-build-environment";
   buildInputs = with pkgs;
     [
-      bazel_4
+      bazel_5
       jdk11
       git