diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 41d5ec3b0..52ff5a895 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ default = [
     "mutagen",
     "pycryptodomex",
     "requests>=2.32.2,<3",
-    "urllib3>=1.26.17,<3",
+    "urllib3>=2.0.2,<3",
     "websockets>=13.0",
 ]
 curl-cffi = [
diff --git a/yt_dlp/networking/_requests.py b/yt_dlp/networking/_requests.py
index 6582038fc..77113bd72 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/networking/_requests.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/networking/_requests.py
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@
 
 urllib3_version = tuple(int_or_none(x, default=0) for x in urllib3.__version__.split('.'))
 
-if urllib3_version < (1, 26, 17):
+if urllib3_version < (2, 0, 2):
     urllib3._yt_dlp__version = f'{urllib3.__version__} (unsupported)'
-    raise ImportError('Only urllib3 >= 1.26.17 is supported')
+    raise ImportError('Only urllib3 >= 2.0.2 is supported')
 
 if requests.__build__ < 0x023202:
     requests._yt_dlp__version = f'{requests.__version__} (unsupported)'