diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/BUILD b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/BUILD
index 946ee35d435..6c36f764fe9 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/BUILD
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/BUILD
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ go_library(
         "//cmd/kubeadm/app/util/kubeconfig:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/util/normalizer:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/version:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api:go_default_library",
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/kubelet.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/kubelet.go
index 4daed21d389..5aa5a67ee6b 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/kubelet.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/kubelet.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/lithammer/dedent"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/version"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
 	clientcmdapi "k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
 	certutil "k8s.io/client-go/util/cert"
@@ -32,10 +33,8 @@ import (
 	kubeadmconstants "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants"
 	kubeletphase "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet"
 	patchnodephase "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/patchnode"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient"
 	kubeconfigutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/kubeconfig"
-	utilsexec "k8s.io/utils/exec"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ func runKubeletStartJoinPhase(c workflow.RunData) error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	kubeletVersion, err := preflight.GetKubeletVersion(utilsexec.New())
+	kubeletVersion, err := version.ParseSemantic(initCfg.ClusterConfiguration.KubernetesVersion)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}