diff --git a/services/mesh-forwarder/Dockerfile b/services/mesh-forwarder/Dockerfile
index 1412d75e..3bcc22ec 100644
--- a/services/mesh-forwarder/Dockerfile
+++ b/services/mesh-forwarder/Dockerfile
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ COPY . .
 RUN python -m venv /opt/venv
 ENV PATH="/opt/venv/bin:$PATH"
 
-RUN pip install --upgrade pip pipenv setuptools
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip pipenv setuptools==81.0.0
 
 # Install dependencies into the current env instead of creating another venv
 RUN pipenv install --deploy --system
diff --git a/services/mesh-forwarder/setup.py b/services/mesh-forwarder/setup.py
index 2e92adf0..07553847 100644
--- a/services/mesh-forwarder/setup.py
+++ b/services/mesh-forwarder/setup.py
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@
     version="1.0.0",
     packages=find_packages(where="src"),
     package_dir={"": "src"},
-    install_requires=["boto3~=1.18", "mesh_client~=1.4"],
+    install_requires=["boto3~=1.18", "mesh_client~=1.4", "setuptools==81.0.0"],
 )