diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/apply.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/apply.go
index 79f33b33e8e..285f76a5076 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/apply.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/upgrade/apply.go
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/klog"
 	kubeadmapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/options"
-	cmdutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/util"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/features"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade"
@@ -49,7 +48,6 @@ type applyFlags struct {
 	dryRun             bool
 	etcdUpgrade        bool
 	renewCerts         bool
-	criSocket          string
 	imagePullTimeout   time.Duration
 	kustomizeDir       string
 }
@@ -66,7 +64,6 @@ func NewCmdApply(apf *applyPlanFlags) *cobra.Command {
 		imagePullTimeout: defaultImagePullTimeout,
 		etcdUpgrade:      true,
 		renewCerts:       true,
-		// Don't set criSocket to a default value here, as this will override the setting in the stored config in RunApply below.
 	}
 
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
@@ -94,10 +91,6 @@ func NewCmdApply(apf *applyPlanFlags) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Flags().DurationVar(&flags.imagePullTimeout, "image-pull-timeout", flags.imagePullTimeout, "The maximum amount of time to wait for the control plane pods to be downloaded.")
 	options.AddKustomizePodsFlag(cmd.Flags(), &flags.kustomizeDir)
 
-	// The CRI socket flag is deprecated here, since it should be taken from the NodeRegistrationOptions for the current
-	// node instead of the command line. This prevents errors by the users (such as attempts to use wrong CRI during upgrade).
-	cmdutil.AddCRISocketFlag(cmd.Flags(), &flags.criSocket)
-	cmd.Flags().MarkDeprecated(options.NodeCRISocket, "This flag is deprecated. Please, avoid using it.")
 	return cmd
 }
 
@@ -123,11 +116,6 @@ func runApply(flags *applyFlags, userVersion string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if len(flags.criSocket) != 0 {
-		fmt.Println("[upgrade/apply] Respecting the --cri-socket flag that is set with higher priority than the config file.")
-		cfg.NodeRegistration.CRISocket = flags.criSocket
-	}
-
 	// Validate requested and validate actual version
 	klog.V(1).Infoln("[upgrade/apply] validating requested and actual version")
 	if err := configutil.NormalizeKubernetesVersion(&cfg.ClusterConfiguration); err != nil {