diff --git a/.github/workflows/cpp.yml b/.github/workflows/cpp.yml
index eaccf25403e..fb76faa529e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cpp.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cpp.yml
@@ -164,8 +164,7 @@ jobs:
       ARROW_HDFS: ON
       ARROW_HOME: /usr/local
       ARROW_JEMALLOC: ON
-      # TODO(kszucs): link error in the tests
-      ARROW_ORC: OFF
+      ARROW_ORC: ON
       ARROW_PARQUET: ON
       ARROW_S3: ON
       ARROW_WITH_BROTLI: ON
diff --git a/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake b/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
index 1e7840cf92e..4422e17e85c 100644
--- a/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
+++ b/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
@@ -4399,6 +4399,11 @@ macro(build_orc)
                         PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION "${ORC_STATIC_LIB}"
                                    INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES "${ORC_INCLUDE_DIR}")
   set(ORC_LINK_LIBRARIES LZ4::lz4 ZLIB::ZLIB ${ARROW_ZSTD_LIBZSTD} ${Snappy_TARGET})
+  # Protobuf generated files may use ABSL_DCHECK*() and
+  # absl::log_internal_check_op is needed for them.
+  if(TARGET absl::log_internal_check_op)
+    list(APPEND ORC_LINK_LIBRARIES absl::log_internal_check_op)
+  endif()
   if(NOT MSVC)
     if(NOT APPLE)
       list(APPEND ORC_LINK_LIBRARIES Threads::Threads)