diff --git a/tools/pnnx/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/pnnx/CMakeLists.txt
index 48ea10453e4..3a08cbc249e 100644
--- a/tools/pnnx/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/pnnx/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,6 +39,21 @@ set(TorchVision_INSTALL_DIR "/home/nihui/osd/vision/build/install" CACHE STRING
 #set(Torch_DIR "${Torch_INSTALL_DIR}/share/cmake/Torch")
 set(TorchVision_DIR "${TorchVision_INSTALL_DIR}/share/cmake/TorchVision")
 
+find_package(protobuf CONFIG)
+
+if(protobuf_FOUND)
+    set(PROTOBUF_FOUND ${protobuf_FOUND})
+    set(PROTOBUF_VERSION ${protobuf_VERSION})
+else()
+    # fallback to system
+    find_package(Protobuf)
+    set(PROTOBUF_FOUND ${Protobuf_FOUND})
+    set(PROTOBUF_VERSION ${Protobuf_VERSION})
+    if(TARGET protobuf::protoc)
+        set_target_properties(protobuf::protoc PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION_RELEASE "${PROTOBUF_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE}")
+    endif()
+endif()
+
 find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
 
 PNNXProbeForPyTorchInstall()
diff --git a/tools/pnnx/src/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/pnnx/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 67b6078f304..d5234053b39 100644
--- a/tools/pnnx/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/pnnx/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -557,23 +557,40 @@ set(pnnx_pass_ncnn_SRCS
     pass_ncnn/torchvision_DeformConv2d.cpp
 )
 
-find_package(Protobuf)
 if(PROTOBUF_FOUND)
-    protobuf_generate_cpp(ONNX_PROTO_SRCS ONNX_PROTO_HDRS onnx.proto)
-
-    add_library(pnnx2onnx STATIC
-        save_onnx.cpp
-        save_onnx_cxxabi_bridge.cpp
-        ${ONNX_PROTO_SRCS} ${ONNX_PROTO_HDRS}
-    )
-
-    target_include_directories(pnnx2onnx PRIVATE ${PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
-    target_link_libraries(pnnx2onnx PRIVATE ${PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES})
-
-    # libtorch is usually compiled with old cxx11 abi
-    set_source_files_properties(save_onnx_cxxabi_bridge.cpp PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "${TORCH_CXX_FLAGS}")
-
-    message(STATUS "Building with onnx-zero")
+    if(DEFINED PROTOBUF_VERSION AND PROTOBUF_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL 3.22)
+        set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
+    endif()
+
+    if(Protobuf_FOUND OR protobuf_MODULE_COMPATIBLE)
+        protobuf_generate_cpp(ONNX_PROTO_SRCS ONNX_PROTO_HDRS onnx.proto)
+
+        add_library(pnnx2onnx STATIC
+            save_onnx.cpp
+            save_onnx_cxxabi_bridge.cpp
+            ${ONNX_PROTO_SRCS} ${ONNX_PROTO_HDRS}
+        )
+
+        target_include_directories(pnnx2onnx PRIVATE ${PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+        target_link_libraries(pnnx2onnx PRIVATE ${PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES})
+
+        # libtorch is usually compiled with old cxx11 abi
+        set_source_files_properties(save_onnx_cxxabi_bridge.cpp PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "${TORCH_CXX_FLAGS}")
+
+        message(STATUS "Building with onnx-zero")
+    else()
+
+        add_library(pnnx2onnx STATIC
+            save_onnx.cpp
+            save_onnx_cxxabi_bridge.cpp
+            onnx.proto
+        )
+        set_source_files_properties(save_onnx_cxxabi_bridge.cpp PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "${TORCH_CXX_FLAGS}")
+        target_include_directories(pnnx2onnx PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+        protobuf_generate(TARGET pnnx2onnx)
+        target_link_libraries(pnnx2onnx PRIVATE protobuf::libprotobuf)
+        message(STATUS "Building with onnx-zero")
+    endif()
 else()
     message(STATUS "Building without onnx-zero")
 endif()