diff --git a/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml b/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml
index e0282134a..c5024e23e 100644
--- a/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/powertools-examples-kafka/pom.xml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.kafka</groupId>
             <artifactId>kafka-clients</artifactId>
-            <version>4.3.1</version> <!-- Supports >= 3.0.0 -->
+            <version>4.4.0</version> <!-- Supports >= 3.0.0 -->
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
diff --git a/powertools-kafka/pom.xml b/powertools-kafka/pom.xml
index cef06b3e9..a3d634a64 100644
--- a/powertools-kafka/pom.xml
+++ b/powertools-kafka/pom.xml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
     </description>
 
     <properties>
-        <kafka-clients.version>4.3.1</kafka-clients.version>
+        <kafka-clients.version>4.4.0</kafka-clients.version>
         <avro.version>1.12.2</avro.version>
         <protobuf.version>4.35.0</protobuf.version>
         <lambda-serialization.version>1.4.1</lambda-serialization.version>
diff --git a/powertools-kafka/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializer.java b/powertools-kafka/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializer.java
index 1a8085a61..ba9e7f455 100644
--- a/powertools-kafka/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializer.java
+++ b/powertools-kafka/src/main/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializer.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
-import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.ByteUtils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -38,6 +37,7 @@ public class KafkaProtobufDeserializer extends AbstractKafkaDeserializer {
 
     private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(KafkaProtobufDeserializer.class);
     private static final String PROTOBUF_PARSER_METHOD = "parser";
+    private static final int MAX_VARINT_BYTES = 5;
 
     @Override
     protected <T> T deserializeObject(byte[] data, Class<T> type, SchemaRegistryType schemaRegistryType)
@@ -81,13 +81,13 @@ private <T> T confluentDeserializer(byte[] data, Class<T> type)
         LOGGER.debug("Using Confluent Deserializer");
         Parser<Message> parser = (Parser<Message>) type.getMethod(PROTOBUF_PARSER_METHOD).invoke(null);
         ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(data);
-        int size = ByteUtils.readVarint(buffer);
+        int size = readVarint(buffer);
 
         // Only if the size is greater than zero, continue reading varInt.
         // https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/schema-registry/fundamentals/serdes-develop/index.html#wire-format
         if (size > 0) {
             for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
-                ByteUtils.readVarint(buffer);
+                readVarint(buffer);
             }
         }
         Message message = parser.parseFrom(buffer);
@@ -107,4 +107,31 @@ private <T> T glueDeserializer(byte[] data, Class<T> type)
         Message message = parser.parseFrom(codedInputStream);
         return type.cast(message);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Reads a zig-zag encoded variable-length integer as used by the Confluent Protobuf wire format for message
+     * indexes. Behaves identically to Kafka's {@code ByteUtils.readVarint(ByteBuffer)}, which moved to an internal
+     * package in kafka-clients 4.4.0 (KAFKA-20297) and is no longer part of the public API.
+     *
+     * @param buffer the buffer to read from
+     * @return the decoded integer
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the varint does not terminate within 5 bytes
+     */
+    static int readVarint(ByteBuffer buffer) {
+        int value = readUnsignedVarint(buffer);
+        return (value >>> 1) ^ -(value & 1);
+    }
+
+    private static int readUnsignedVarint(ByteBuffer buffer) {
+        int result = 0;
+        for (int shift = 0; shift < MAX_VARINT_BYTES * 7; shift += 7) {
+            byte b = buffer.get();
+            result |= (b & 0x7F) << shift;
+            if (b >= 0) {
+                return result;
+            }
+        }
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Varint is too long, the most significant bit in the 5th byte is set, "
+                + "converted value: " + Integer.toHexString(result));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/powertools-kafka/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializerTest.java b/powertools-kafka/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializerTest.java
index 34a376947..1f614e0fe 100644
--- a/powertools-kafka/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializerTest.java
+++ b/powertools-kafka/src/test/java/software/amazon/lambda/powertools/kafka/serializers/KafkaProtobufDeserializerTest.java
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.BufferUnderflowException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
-import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.ByteUtils;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
@@ -180,21 +180,60 @@ private byte[] createProtobufDataWithSimpleMessageIndexConfluent(TestProduct pro
     private byte[] createProtobufDataWithComplexMessageIndexConfluent(TestProduct product) throws IOException {
         ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
 
-        // Write complex message index array [1,0] using ByteUtils
+        // Write complex message index array [1,0] as zig-zag varints
         // https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/schema-registry/fundamentals/serdes-develop/index.html#wire-format
-        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(1024);
-        ByteUtils.writeVarint(2, buffer); // Array length
-        ByteUtils.writeVarint(1, buffer); // First index value
-        ByteUtils.writeVarint(0, buffer); // Second index value
-
-        buffer.flip();
-        byte[] indexData = new byte[buffer.remaining()];
-        buffer.get(indexData);
-        baos.write(indexData);
+        baos.write(zigZagVarints(2, 1, 0)); // Array length, first index value, second index value
 
         // Write the protobuf data
         baos.write(product.toByteArray());
 
         return baos.toByteArray();
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldReadZigZagVarintsLikeKafkaByteUtils() throws IOException {
+        // Given
+        int[] values = { 0, 1, -1, 2, -2, 63, -64, 64, 300, -300, 16384, 2097151, 268435456,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE, Integer.MIN_VALUE };
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(zigZagVarints(values));
+
+        // When/Then
+        for (int value : values) {
+            assertThat(KafkaProtobufDeserializer.readVarint(buffer)).isEqualTo(value);
+        }
+        assertThat(buffer.hasRemaining()).isFalse();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldThrowWhenVarintExceedsFiveBytes() {
+        // Given
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(new byte[] { (byte) 0x80, (byte) 0x80, (byte) 0x80, (byte) 0x80,
+                (byte) 0x80, 0x01 });
+
+        // When/Then
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> KafkaProtobufDeserializer.readVarint(buffer))
+                .isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+                .hasMessageContaining("Varint is too long");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldThrowWhenVarintIsTruncated() {
+        // Given
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(new byte[] { (byte) 0x80 });
+
+        // When/Then
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> KafkaProtobufDeserializer.readVarint(buffer))
+                .isInstanceOf(BufferUnderflowException.class);
+    }
+
+    private byte[] zigZagVarints(int... values) throws IOException {
+        // Protobuf sint32 encoding is the same zig-zag varint encoding Confluent uses for message indexes
+        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        CodedOutputStream codedOutput = CodedOutputStream.newInstance(baos);
+        for (int value : values) {
+            codedOutput.writeSInt32NoTag(value);
+        }
+        codedOutput.flush();
+        return baos.toByteArray();
+    }
 }