diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 4a8c9c620b..51faa7930b 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
       ARCH: amd64
       GOVERSION: 1.11
       # Needed to install protoc
-      PROTOC: https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v3.5.0/protoc-3.5.0-linux-x86_64.zip
+      PROTOC_VERSION: 3.6.1
 
     # Note(cyli): We create a tmpfs mount to be used for temporary files created by tests
     # to mitigate the excessive I/O latencies that sometimes cause the tests to fail.
@@ -61,11 +61,10 @@ jobs:
     - run:
         name: Install protoc
         command: |
-            curl -fsSL -o "$HOME/$(basename $PROTOC)" "$PROTOC"
-            unzip -o "$HOME/$(basename $PROTOC)" -d "$HOME"
-            sudo cp -R "$HOME/include/google" /usr/local/include
-            sudo chmod 777 -R /usr/local/include/google
-            sudo cp -R "$HOME/bin/protoc" /usr/local/bin
+            curl --silent --show-error --location --output protoc.zip \
+            https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v$PROTOC_VERSION/protoc-$PROTOC_VERSION-linux-x86_64.zip
+            sudo unzip -d /usr/local protoc.zip include/* bin/*
+            rm -f protoc.zip
             sudo chmod 777 /usr/local/bin/protoc
 
     - run: