diff --git a/build_tools/azure/install.sh b/build_tools/azure/install.sh
index 5bd845147b0f3..83b3b1b7ab626 100755
--- a/build_tools/azure/install.sh
+++ b/build_tools/azure/install.sh
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ fi
 
 make_conda() {
     TO_INSTALL="$@"
+    # TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
+    TO_INSTALL="$TO_INSTALL setuptools<58.5"
     if [[ "$DISTRIB" == *"mamba"* ]]; then
         mamba create -n $VIRTUALENV --yes $TO_INSTALL
     else
@@ -88,7 +90,8 @@ elif [[ "$DISTRIB" == "ubuntu" ]]; then
     source $VIRTUALENV/bin/activate
     setup_ccache
     python -m pip install $(get_dep cython $CYTHON_VERSION) \
-                          $(get_dep joblib $JOBLIB_VERSION)
+                          $(get_dep joblib $JOBLIB_VERSION) \
+    "setuptools<58.5" # TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
 
 elif [[ "$DISTRIB" == "debian-32" ]]; then
     apt-get update
@@ -98,7 +101,8 @@ elif [[ "$DISTRIB" == "debian-32" ]]; then
     source $VIRTUALENV/bin/activate
     setup_ccache
     python -m pip install $(get_dep cython $CYTHON_VERSION) \
-                          $(get_dep joblib $JOBLIB_VERSION)
+                          $(get_dep joblib $JOBLIB_VERSION) \
+    "setuptools<58.5" # TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
 
 elif [[ "$DISTRIB" == "conda-pip-latest" ]]; then
     # FIXME: temporary fix to link against system libraries on linux
diff --git a/build_tools/azure/install_win.sh b/build_tools/azure/install_win.sh
index 2c18d8a63da1f..2afbe2aa609ef 100755
--- a/build_tools/azure/install_win.sh
+++ b/build_tools/azure/install_win.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ set -e
 set -x
 
 if [[ "$PYTHON_ARCH" == "64" ]]; then
-    conda create -n $VIRTUALENV -q -y python=$PYTHON_VERSION numpy scipy cython matplotlib wheel pillow joblib
+    conda create -n $VIRTUALENV -q -y python=$PYTHON_VERSION numpy scipy cython matplotlib wheel pillow joblib \
+    "setuptools<58.5" # TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
 
     source activate $VIRTUALENV
 
@@ -16,7 +17,8 @@ if [[ "$PYTHON_ARCH" == "64" ]]; then
         pip install pytest==$PYTEST_VERSION
     fi
 else
-    pip install numpy scipy cython pytest wheel pillow joblib threadpoolctl
+    pip install numpy scipy cython pytest wheel pillow joblib threadpoolctl \
+    "setuptools<58.5" # TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
 fi
 
 if [[ "$PYTEST_XDIST_VERSION" != "none" ]]; then
diff --git a/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh b/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
index 8facdc59a6c56..f14b48a7df418 100755
--- a/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
+++ b/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
@@ -181,6 +181,8 @@ pip install "$(get_dep sphinx-gallery $SPHINX_GALLERY_VERSION)"
 pip install "$(get_dep numpydoc $NUMPYDOC_VERSION)"
 pip install "$(get_dep sphinx-prompt $SPHINX_PROMPT_VERSION)"
 pip install "$(get_dep sphinxext-opengraph $SPHINXEXT_OPENGRAPH_VERSION)"
+# TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
+pip install "setuptools<58.5"
 
 # Set parallelism to 3 to overlap IO bound tasks with CPU bound tasks on CI
 # workers with 2 cores when building the compiled extensions of scikit-learn.
diff --git a/build_tools/circle/build_test_arm.sh b/build_tools/circle/build_test_arm.sh
index 67beaae5dba31..3d66ae270c6ee 100755
--- a/build_tools/circle/build_test_arm.sh
+++ b/build_tools/circle/build_test_arm.sh
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ mamba install --verbose -y  ccache \
                             $(get_dep joblib $JOBLIB_VERSION) \
                             $(get_dep threadpoolctl $THREADPOOLCTL_VERSION) \
                             $(get_dep pytest $PYTEST_VERSION) \
-                            $(get_dep pytest-xdist $PYTEST_XDIST_VERSION)
+                            $(get_dep pytest-xdist $PYTEST_XDIST_VERSION) \
+                            "setuptools<58.5" # TODO: Remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
+
 setup_ccache
 
 if [[ "$COVERAGE" == "true" ]]; then
diff --git a/build_tools/circle/build_test_pypy.sh b/build_tools/circle/build_test_pypy.sh
index c1def8ce2670b..1b2d22f88f76a 100755
--- a/build_tools/circle/build_test_pypy.sh
+++ b/build_tools/circle/build_test_pypy.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ conda install -y mamba
 mamba create -n pypy -y \
     pypy numpy scipy cython \
     joblib threadpoolctl pillow pytest \
-    sphinx numpydoc docutils
+    sphinx numpydoc docutils \
+    "setuptools<58.5" # TODO: remove this line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
 
 eval "$(conda shell.bash hook)"
 conda activate pypy
diff --git a/build_tools/travis/install_main.sh b/build_tools/travis/install_main.sh
index c0795139859bb..9abace6b54ed9 100755
--- a/build_tools/travis/install_main.sh
+++ b/build_tools/travis/install_main.sh
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ conda create -n testenv --yes python=3.7
 source activate testenv
 conda install -y scipy numpy pandas cython
 pip install joblib threadpoolctl
+# TODO: This line once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
+pip install "setuptools<58.5"
 
 pip install $(get_dep pytest $PYTEST_VERSION) pytest-xdist
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3762d2f229f76..3749e0a5874d9 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 [build-system]
 # Minimum requirements for the build system to execute.
 requires = [
-    "setuptools",
+    # TODO: Remove the specifier once setuptools#2849 is resolved.
+    "setuptools<58.5",
     "wheel",
     "Cython>=0.28.5",