diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index fbcb5d19130..22e400a286e 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ http_archive(
     ],
 )
 
+# Load tf_workspace() before loading dependencies for other repository so that
+# dependencies like com_google_protobuf won't be overridden.
+load("//tensorflow:workspace.bzl", "tf_workspace")
+# Please add all new TensorFlow dependencies in workspace.bzl.
+tf_workspace()
+
 load("@io_bazel_rules_closure//closure:defs.bzl", "closure_repositories")
 
 closure_repositories()
@@ -83,15 +89,15 @@ swift_rules_dependencies()
 load("//tensorflow:version_check.bzl", "check_bazel_version_at_least")
 check_bazel_version_at_least("0.19.0")
 
-load("//tensorflow:workspace.bzl", "tf_workspace")
-
 load("//third_party/android:android_configure.bzl", "android_configure")
 android_configure(name="local_config_android")
 load("@local_config_android//:android.bzl", "android_workspace")
 android_workspace()
 
-# Please add all new TensorFlow dependencies in workspace.bzl.
-tf_workspace()
+# If a target is bound twice, the later one wins, so we have to do tf bindings
+# at the end of the WORKSPACE file.
+load("//tensorflow:workspace.bzl", "tf_bind")
+tf_bind()
 
 http_archive(
     name = "inception_v1",
diff --git a/tensorflow/workspace.bzl b/tensorflow/workspace.bzl
index c2d3543978c..b7179433974 100755
--- a/tensorflow/workspace.bzl
+++ b/tensorflow/workspace.bzl
@@ -371,16 +371,21 @@ def tf_workspace(path_prefix = "", tf_repo_name = ""):
         },
     )
 
-    # 5902e759108d14ee8e6b0b07653dac2f4e70ac73 is based on 3.7.1 with a fix for BUILD file.
+    # 310ba5ee72661c081129eb878c1bbcec936b20f0 is based on 3.8.0 with a fix for protobuf.bzl.
     PROTOBUF_URLS = [
-        "http://mirror.tensorflow.org/github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/5902e759108d14ee8e6b0b07653dac2f4e70ac73.tar.gz",
-        "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/5902e759108d14ee8e6b0b07653dac2f4e70ac73.tar.gz",
+        "http://mirror.tensorflow.org/github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/310ba5ee72661c081129eb878c1bbcec936b20f0.tar.gz",
+        "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/310ba5ee72661c081129eb878c1bbcec936b20f0.tar.gz",
     ]
-    PROTOBUF_SHA256 = "1c020fafc84acd235ec81c6aac22d73f23e85a700871466052ff231d69c1b17a"
-    PROTOBUF_STRIP_PREFIX = "protobuf-5902e759108d14ee8e6b0b07653dac2f4e70ac73"
+    PROTOBUF_SHA256 = "b9e92f9af8819bbbc514e2902aec860415b70209f31dfc8c4fa72515a5df9d59"
+    PROTOBUF_STRIP_PREFIX = "protobuf-310ba5ee72661c081129eb878c1bbcec936b20f0"
+
+    # protobuf depends on @zlib, it has to be renamed to @zlib_archive because "zlib" is already
+    # defined using bind for grpc.
+    PROTOBUF_PATCH = "//third_party/protobuf:protobuf.patch"
 
     tf_http_archive(
         name = "protobuf_archive",
+        patch_file = PROTOBUF_PATCH,
         sha256 = PROTOBUF_SHA256,
         strip_prefix = PROTOBUF_STRIP_PREFIX,
         system_build_file = clean_dep("//third_party/systemlibs:protobuf.BUILD"),
@@ -395,6 +400,7 @@ def tf_workspace(path_prefix = "", tf_repo_name = ""):
     # Unfortunately there is no way to alias http_archives at the moment.
     tf_http_archive(
         name = "com_google_protobuf",
+        patch_file = PROTOBUF_PATCH,
         sha256 = PROTOBUF_SHA256,
         strip_prefix = PROTOBUF_STRIP_PREFIX,
         system_build_file = clean_dep("//third_party/systemlibs:protobuf.BUILD"),
@@ -406,6 +412,7 @@ def tf_workspace(path_prefix = "", tf_repo_name = ""):
 
     tf_http_archive(
         name = "com_google_protobuf_cc",
+        patch_file = PROTOBUF_PATCH,
         sha256 = PROTOBUF_SHA256,
         strip_prefix = PROTOBUF_STRIP_PREFIX,
         system_build_file = clean_dep("//third_party/systemlibs:protobuf.BUILD"),
@@ -920,6 +927,8 @@ def tf_workspace(path_prefix = "", tf_repo_name = ""):
         ],
     )
 
+def tf_bind():
+    """Bind targets for some external repositories"""
     ##############################################################################
     # BIND DEFINITIONS
     #
diff --git a/third_party/protobuf/protobuf.patch b/third_party/protobuf/protobuf.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..df0648563dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/third_party/protobuf/protobuf.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
+index 2fb26050..c2744d5b 100644
+--- a/BUILD
++++ b/BUILD
+@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ config_setting(
+ # ZLIB configuration
+ ################################################################################
+ 
+-ZLIB_DEPS = ["@zlib//:zlib"]
++ZLIB_DEPS = ["@zlib_archive//:zlib"]
+ 
+ ################################################################################
+ # Protobuf Runtime Library
+@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ cc_library(
+ # TODO(keveman): Remove this target once the support gets added to Bazel.
+ cc_library(
+     name = "protobuf_headers",
+-    hdrs = glob(["src/**/*.h"]),
++    hdrs = glob(["src/**/*.h", "src/**/*.inc"]),
+     includes = ["src/"],
+     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
+ )