diff --git a/.github/actions/install-python-and-package/action.yml b/.github/actions/install-python-and-package/action.yml
index 9ecf6473..87858abe 100644
--- a/.github/actions/install-python-and-package/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/install-python-and-package/action.yml
@@ -36,11 +36,12 @@ runs:
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
 
     # only necessary on linux to avoid bloated installs
+    # pining the version of torch is temporary, see see #829
     - name: Install tensorflow/pytorch cpu version
       if: runner.os == 'Linux' && steps.cache-python-env.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
       shell: bash {0}
       run: |
-        python -m pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+        python -m pip install torch==2.3.1 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
         python -m pip install tensorflow-cpu
 
     - name: Install DIANNA
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index bc0f2803..c91e1683 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ install_requires =
     scikit-learn
     tqdm
     xarray
+    torch <=2.3.1  # this is temporary, see #829
     # tf and tfprob are required but not declared by onnx_tf
     tensorflow >= 2.12,<2.16
     tensorflow_probability <0.24