diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go
index b2652dac2da..5ec99c4e260 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go
@@ -86,12 +86,6 @@ func runKubeletConfigPhase() func(c workflow.RunData) error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		// TODO: Temporary workaround. Remove in 1.27:
-		// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/2626
-		if err := upgrade.CleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(dryRun); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
 		fmt.Println("[upgrade] The configuration for this node was successfully updated!")
 		fmt.Println("[upgrade] Now you should go ahead and upgrade the kubelet package using your package manager.")
 		return nil
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade.go
index 5b560e75133..4422b47a9c2 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade.go
@@ -18,11 +18,8 @@ package upgrade
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
@@ -66,12 +63,6 @@ func PerformPostUpgradeTasks(client clientset.Interface, cfg *kubeadmapi.InitCon
 		errs = append(errs, err)
 	}
 
-	// TODO: Temporary workaround. Remove in 1.27:
-	// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/2626
-	if err := CleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(dryRun); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	// Annotate the node with the crisocket information, sourced either from the InitConfiguration struct or
 	// --cri-socket.
 	// TODO: In the future we want to use something more official like NodeStatus or similar for detecting this properly
@@ -210,67 +201,3 @@ func rollbackFiles(files map[string]string, originalErr error) error {
 	}
 	return errors.Errorf("couldn't move these files: %v. Got errors: %v", files, errorsutil.NewAggregate(errs))
 }
-
-// CleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime reads the kubelet dynamic environment file
-// from disk, ensure that the container runtime flag is removed.
-// TODO: Temporary workaround. Remove in 1.27:
-// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubeadm/issues/2626
-func CleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(dryRun bool) error {
-	filePath := filepath.Join(kubeadmconstants.KubeletRunDirectory, kubeadmconstants.KubeletEnvFileName)
-	if dryRun {
-		fmt.Printf("[dryrun] Would ensure that %q does not include a --container-runtime flag\n", filePath)
-		return nil
-	}
-	klog.V(2).Infof("Ensuring that %q does not include a --container-runtime flag", filePath)
-	bytes, err := os.ReadFile(filePath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to read kubelet configuration from file %q", filePath)
-	}
-	updated := cleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(string(bytes))
-	if err := os.WriteFile(filePath, []byte(updated), 0644); err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to write kubelet configuration to the file %q", filePath)
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
-func cleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(str string) string {
-	const (
-		// `remote` is the only possible value
-		containerRuntimeFlag = "container-runtime"
-		endpointFlag         = "container-runtime-endpoint"
-	)
-	// Trim the prefix
-	str = strings.TrimLeft(str, fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"", kubeadmconstants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName))
-
-	// Flags are managed by kubeadm as pairs of key=value separated by space.
-	// Split them, find the one containing the flag of interest and update
-	// its value to have the scheme prefix.
-	split := strings.Split(str, " ")
-	for i, s := range split {
-		if !(strings.Contains(s, containerRuntimeFlag) && !strings.Contains(s, endpointFlag)) {
-			continue
-		}
-		keyValue := strings.Split(s, "=")
-		if len(keyValue) < 2 {
-			// Post init/join, the user may have edited the file and has flags that are not
-			// followed by "=". If that is the case the next argument must be the value
-			// of the endpoint flag and if its not a flag itself.
-			if i+1 < len(split) {
-				nextArg := split[i+1]
-				if strings.HasPrefix(nextArg, "-") {
-					// remove the flag only
-					split = append(split[:i], split[i+1:]...)
-				} else {
-					// remove the flag and value
-					split = append(split[:i], split[i+2:]...)
-				}
-			}
-			continue
-		}
-
-		// remove the flag and value in one
-		split = append(split[:i], split[i+1:]...)
-	}
-	str = strings.Join(split, " ")
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"%s", kubeadmconstants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName, str)
-}
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade_test.go
index 9aee53a7a57..e766fc60f48 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/postupgrade_test.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 package upgrade
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -102,50 +101,3 @@ func TestRollbackFiles(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected error contains %q, got %v", errString, err)
 	}
 }
-
-func TestCleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(t *testing.T) {
-	tcases := []struct {
-		name     string
-		input    string
-		expected string
-	}{
-		{
-			name:     "common flag",
-			input:    fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--container-runtime=remote --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock --pod-infra-container-image=registry.k8s.io/pause:3.9\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-			expected: fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock --pod-infra-container-image=registry.k8s.io/pause:3.9\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-		},
-		{
-			name:     "missing flag of interest",
-			input:    fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --bar=def --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-			expected: fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --bar=def --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-		},
-		{
-			name:     "add missing URL scheme",
-			input:    fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --container-runtime=remote --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-			expected: fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-		},
-		{
-			name:     "add missing URL scheme if there is no '=' after the flag name",
-			input:    fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --container-runtime remote --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-			expected: fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-		},
-		{
-			name:     "empty flag of interest value following '='",
-			input:    fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --container-runtime= --container-runtime-endpoint unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-			expected: fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --container-runtime-endpoint unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-		},
-		{
-			name:     "empty flag of interest value without '='",
-			input:    fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --container-runtime --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-			expected: fmt.Sprintf("%s=\"--foo=abc --bar=def\"", constants.KubeletEnvFileVariableName),
-		},
-	}
-	for _, tt := range tcases {
-		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			output := cleanupKubeletDynamicEnvFileContainerRuntime(tt.input)
-			if output != tt.expected {
-				t.Errorf("expected output: %q, got: %q", tt.expected, output)
-			}
-		})
-	}
-}