diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/node.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/node.go
index bc15804f659..db53d184f4c 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/node.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/node.go
@@ -93,10 +93,6 @@ func NewCmdNode() *cobra.Command {
 	// command help, adding --skip-phases flag and by adding phases subcommands
 	nodeRunner.BindToCommand(cmd)
 
-	// upgrade node config command is subject to GA deprecation policy, so we should deprecate it
-	// and keep it here for one year or three releases - the longer of the two - starting from v1.15 included
-	cmd.AddCommand(NewCmdUpgradeNodeConfig())
-
 	return cmd
 }
 
@@ -195,41 +191,3 @@ func (d *nodeData) Client() clientset.Interface {
 func (d *nodeData) KustomizeDir() string {
 	return d.kustomizeDir
 }
-
-// NewCmdUpgradeNodeConfig returns the cobra.Command for downloading the new/upgrading the kubelet configuration from the kubelet-config-1.X
-// ConfigMap in the cluster
-// TODO: to remove when 1.18 is released
-func NewCmdUpgradeNodeConfig() *cobra.Command {
-	nodeOptions := newNodeOptions()
-	nodeRunner := workflow.NewRunner()
-
-	cmd := &cobra.Command{
-		Use:        "config",
-		Short:      "Download the kubelet configuration from the cluster ConfigMap kubelet-config-1.X, where X is the minor version of the kubelet",
-		Deprecated: "use \"kubeadm upgrade node\" instead",
-		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-			// This is required for preserving the old behavior of `kubeadm upgrade node config`.
-			// The new implementation exposed as a phase under `kubeadm upgrade node` infers the target
-			// kubelet config version from the kubeadm-config ConfigMap
-			if len(nodeOptions.kubeletVersion) == 0 {
-				return errors.New("the --kubelet-version argument is required")
-			}
-
-			return nodeRunner.Run(args)
-		},
-	}
-
-	// adds flags to the node command
-	addUpgradeNodeFlags(cmd.Flags(), nodeOptions)
-
-	// initialize the workflow runner with the list of phases
-	nodeRunner.AppendPhase(phases.NewKubeletConfigPhase())
-
-	// sets the data builder function, that will be used by the runner
-	// both when running the entire workflow or single phases
-	nodeRunner.SetDataInitializer(func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (workflow.RunData, error) {
-		return newNodeData(cmd, args, nodeOptions)
-	})
-
-	return cmd
-}