diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/BUILD b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/BUILD
index b5b5d1158cf..0fe4849ebeb 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/BUILD
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/BUILD
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ go_library(
         "//cmd/kubeadm/app/util/kubeconfig:go_default_library",
         "//cmd/kubeadm/app/util/token:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/apis/core:go_default_library",
-        "//pkg/kubectl/cmd/util:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubectl/util/i18n:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/util/initsystem:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/util/node:go_default_library",
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/version.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/version.go
index acfdcbb088b..066e4c489f4 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/version.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/version.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 
 	apimachineryversion "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/version"
 	kubeadmutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/util"
-	cmdutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/util/i18n"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/version"
 )
@@ -60,7 +59,13 @@ func RunVersion(out io.Writer, cmd *cobra.Command) error {
 		ClientVersion: &clientVersion,
 	}
 
-	switch of := cmdutil.GetFlagString(cmd, "output"); of {
+	const flag = "output"
+	of, err := cmd.Flags().GetString(flag)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Fatalf("error accessing flag %s for command %s: %v", flag, cmd.Name(), err)
+	}
+
+	switch of {
 	case "":
 		fmt.Fprintf(out, "kubeadm version: %#v\n", v.ClientVersion)
 	case "short":