diff --git a/src/rpcclient/rpcclient/client.py b/src/rpcclient/rpcclient/client.py
index 08345a9..9f64801 100644
--- a/src/rpcclient/rpcclient/client.py
+++ b/src/rpcclient/rpcclient/client.py
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
 from rpcclient.lief import Lief
 from rpcclient.network import Network
 from rpcclient.processes import Processes
-from rpcclient.protos.rpc_pb2 import Argument, CmdCall, CmdDlclose, CmdDlopen, CmdDlsym, CmdDummyBlock, CmdExec, \
-    CmdListDir, CmdPeek, CmdPoke, Response
 from rpcclient.protosocket import ProtoSocket
 from rpcclient.structs.consts import EAGAIN, ECONNREFUSED, EEXIST, EISDIR, ENOENT, ENOTDIR, ENOTEMPTY, EPERM, EPIPE, \
     RTLD_NEXT
@@ -36,6 +34,11 @@
 from rpcclient.symbols_jar import SymbolsJar
 from rpcclient.sysctl import Sysctl
 
+# make sure imports from the *_pb2 modules don't depend on the locally installed protobuf version
+os.environ['PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION'] = 'python'
+from rpcclient.protos.rpc_pb2 import Argument, CmdCall, CmdDlclose, CmdDlopen, CmdDlsym, CmdDummyBlock, CmdExec, \
+    CmdListDir, CmdPeek, CmdPoke, Response  # noqa E402
+
 tty_support = False
 try:
     import termios