diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/protobuf/6.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/protobuf/6.nix
index d3aa019da237..f5ce6a82e716 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/protobuf/6.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/protobuf/6.nix
@@ -23,8 +23,12 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     protobuf
   ];
 
-  # the pypi source archive does not ship tests
-  doCheck = false;
+  doCheck =
+    # https://protobuf.dev/support/cross-version-runtime-guarantee/#backwards
+    # The non-python protobuf provides the protoc binary which must not be newer.
+    assert lib.versionAtLeast version ("6." + protobuf.version);
+    # the pypi source archive does not ship tests
+    false;
 
   pythonImportsCheck = [
     "google.protobuf"
@@ -45,7 +49,9 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
   meta = {
     description = "Protocol Buffers are Google's data interchange format";
     homepage = "https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/";
-    changelog = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/v${version}";
+    changelog = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/v${
+      builtins.substring 2 (-1) version
+    }";
     license = lib.licenses.bsd3;
     maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ GaetanLepage ];
   };