diff --git a/environments/common/images/es-jdk-patch/Dockerfile b/environments/common/images/es-jdk-patch/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 53344970..00000000
--- a/environments/common/images/es-jdk-patch/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-ARG BASE_IMAGE
-FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
-
-ARG ES_VERSION
-USER root
-COPY patch-es-jdk.sh /tmp/patch-es-jdk.sh
-RUN chmod +x /tmp/patch-es-jdk.sh && ES_VERSION=${ES_VERSION} /tmp/patch-es-jdk.sh && rm -f /tmp/patch-es-jdk.sh
-USER elasticsearch
diff --git a/environments/common/images/es-jdk-patch/patch-es-jdk.sh b/environments/common/images/es-jdk-patch/patch-es-jdk.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 58822abb..00000000
--- a/environments/common/images/es-jdk-patch/patch-es-jdk.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# ES 7.15.1-7.17.6 and 8.0.x-8.4.x bundle JDK 17.0.0/17.0.1/17.0.2 or JDK 18, which have cgroup v2
-# bug JDK-8287073: CgroupV2Subsystem.getInstance() NPEs before UseContainerSupport is checked.
-# Fixed in JDK 17.0.5+ (backport JDK-8288308) and JDK 19+.
-# We replace the bundled JDK: Corretto 17.0.5 for JDK-17 builds, Corretto 19.0.0 for JDK-18 builds.
-#
-# Usage:
-#   ES_VERSION=7.16.0 ./patch-es-jdk.sh          # patch the JDK in /usr/share/elasticsearch/jdk
-#   ES_VERSION=7.16.0 ./patch-es-jdk.sh --check   # exit 0 if patching is needed, 1 otherwise
-set -e
-
-MAJOR=$(echo "$ES_VERSION" | cut -d. -f1)
-MINOR=$(echo "$ES_VERSION" | cut -d. -f2)
-PATCH=$(echo "$ES_VERSION" | cut -d. -f3)
-
-CORRETTO_VERSION=""
-if [ "$MAJOR" -eq 7 ] && [ "$MINOR" -eq 15 ] && [ "$PATCH" -ge 1 ]; then
-  CORRETTO_VERSION="17.0.5.8.1"
-elif [ "$MAJOR" -eq 7 ] && [ "$MINOR" -eq 16 ]; then
-  CORRETTO_VERSION="17.0.5.8.1"
-elif [ "$MAJOR" -eq 7 ] && [ "$MINOR" -eq 17 ] && [ "$PATCH" -le 2 ]; then
-  CORRETTO_VERSION="17.0.5.8.1"
-elif [ "$MAJOR" -eq 7 ] && [ "$MINOR" -eq 17 ] && [ "$PATCH" -le 6 ]; then
-  CORRETTO_VERSION="19.0.0.36.1"
-elif [ "$MAJOR" -eq 8 ] && [ "$MINOR" -le 1 ]; then
-  CORRETTO_VERSION="17.0.5.8.1"
-elif [ "$MAJOR" -eq 8 ] && [ "$MINOR" -le 4 ]; then
-  CORRETTO_VERSION="19.0.0.36.1"
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" = "--check" ]; then
-  [ -n "$CORRETTO_VERSION" ]
-  exit $?
-fi
-
-if [ -n "$CORRETTO_VERSION" ]; then
-  ARCH=$(uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/x64/' | sed 's/arm64/aarch64/')
-  echo "Replacing buggy bundled JDK with Corretto $CORRETTO_VERSION for ES $ES_VERSION (arch: $ARCH)"
-  curl -fsSLk "https://corretto.aws/downloads/resources/${CORRETTO_VERSION}/amazon-corretto-${CORRETTO_VERSION}-linux-${ARCH}.tar.gz" -o /tmp/jdk.tar.gz
-  rm -rf /usr/share/elasticsearch/jdk
-  mkdir -p /usr/share/elasticsearch/jdk
-  tar xzf /tmp/jdk.tar.gz -C /usr/share/elasticsearch/jdk --strip-components=1
-  rm /tmp/jdk.tar.gz
-fi
diff --git a/environments/eck-ror/kind-cluster/ror/base/es.yml b/environments/eck-ror/kind-cluster/ror/base/es.yml
index a4333475..aa213b12 100644
--- a/environments/eck-ror/kind-cluster/ror/base/es.yml
+++ b/environments/eck-ror/kind-cluster/ror/base/es.yml
@@ -18,12 +18,8 @@ spec:
                 runAsUser: 0
                 runAsGroup: 0
               env:
-                # For ROR_ES_VERSION >= 1.64.0
                 - name: I_UNDERSTAND_AND_ACCEPT_ES_PATCHING
                   value: "yes"
-                # For ROR_ES_VERSION < 1.64.0
-                - name: I_UNDERSTAND_IMPLICATION_OF_ES_PATCHING
-                  value: "yes"
                 - name: INTERNAL_USR_PASS
                   valueFrom:
                     secretKeyRef:
diff --git a/environments/eck-ror/start.sh b/environments/eck-ror/start.sh
index 034b9243..022915bb 100755
--- a/environments/eck-ror/start.sh
+++ b/environments/eck-ror/start.sh
@@ -123,43 +123,12 @@ if [[ -z $ES_VERSION || -z $KBN_VERSION ]]; then
   show_help
 fi
 
-PATCH_SCRIPT_DIR="../common/images/es-jdk-patch"
-
-ES_IMAGE="${ROR_ES_REPO}:${ES_VERSION}-ror-${ROR_ES_VERSION}"
-KBN_IMAGE="${ROR_KBN_REPO}:${KBN_VERSION}-ror-${ROR_KBN_VERSION}"
-
-patch_es_image_if_needed() {
-  if ES_VERSION="$ES_VERSION" "$PATCH_SCRIPT_DIR/patch-es-jdk.sh" --check; then
-    echo "ES $ES_VERSION bundles a JDK with cgroup v2 bug (JDK-8287073). Building patched image..."
-    docker build \
-      --build-arg BASE_IMAGE="$ES_IMAGE" \
-      --build-arg ES_VERSION="$ES_VERSION" \
-      -t "$ES_IMAGE" \
-      "$PATCH_SCRIPT_DIR"
-    echo "Patched ES image built successfully: $ES_IMAGE"
-  fi
-}
-
-preload_images_into_kind() {
-  echo "Pre-loading ROR images into Kind cluster to avoid Docker Hub rate limits..."
-  docker pull "$ES_IMAGE" || { echo "Failed to pull ES image: $ES_IMAGE"; exit 1; }
-  kind load docker-image "$ES_IMAGE" --name eck-ror || { echo "Failed to load ES image into KinD cluster."; exit 1; }
-  echo "ES image loaded into KinD cluster: $ES_IMAGE"
-
-  docker pull "$KBN_IMAGE" || { echo "Failed to pull Kibana image: $KBN_IMAGE"; exit 1; }
-  kind load docker-image "$KBN_IMAGE" --name eck-ror || { echo "Failed to load Kibana image into KinD cluster."; exit 1; }
-  echo "Kibana image loaded into KinD cluster: $KBN_IMAGE"
-}
-
 echo "CONFIGURING K8S CLUSTER ..."
 kind create cluster --name eck-ror --config kind-cluster/kind-cluster-config.yml
 docker exec eck-ror-control-plane /bin/bash -c "sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144"
 docker exec eck-ror-worker        /bin/bash -c "sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144"
 docker exec eck-ror-worker2       /bin/bash -c "sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144"
 
-patch_es_image_if_needed
-preload_images_into_kind
-
 
 
 echo "CONFIGURING ECK $ECK_VERSION ..."
diff --git a/environments/elk-ror/base.docker-compose.yml b/environments/elk-ror/base.docker-compose.yml
index bd3be094..4802bd87 100644
--- a/environments/elk-ror/base.docker-compose.yml
+++ b/environments/elk-ror/base.docker-compose.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ services:
       context: .
       dockerfile: images/es/Dockerfile
       args:
-        ES_PATCHED_IMAGE: $ES_PATCHED_IMAGE
+        ROR_ES_REPO: $ROR_ES_REPO
+        ES_VERSION: $ES_VERSION
+        ROR_ES_VERSION: $ROR_ES_VERSION
     ports:
       - "9200:9200"
       - "5005:5005"
diff --git a/environments/elk-ror/images/es/Dockerfile b/environments/elk-ror/images/es/Dockerfile
index 17819644..ba34096a 100644
--- a/environments/elk-ror/images/es/Dockerfile
+++ b/environments/elk-ror/images/es/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-ARG ES_PATCHED_IMAGE
+ARG ROR_ES_REPO
+ARG ES_VERSION
+ARG ROR_ES_VERSION
 
-FROM ${ES_PATCHED_IMAGE}
+FROM ${ROR_ES_REPO}:${ES_VERSION}-ror-${ROR_ES_VERSION}
 
 USER elasticsearch
 
@@ -12,8 +14,5 @@ COPY certs/elasticsearch.crt /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.crt
 COPY certs/elasticsearch.csr /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.csr
 COPY certs/elasticsearch.key /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.key
 
-# For ROR_ES_VERSION >= 1.64.0
 ENV I_UNDERSTAND_AND_ACCEPT_ES_PATCHING yes
-# For ROR_ES_VERSION < 1.64.0
-ENV I_UNDERSTAND_IMPLICATION_OF_ES_PATCHING yes
 USER root
diff --git a/environments/elk-ror/start.sh b/environments/elk-ror/start.sh
index 967c1878..32888a95 100755
--- a/environments/elk-ror/start.sh
+++ b/environments/elk-ror/start.sh
@@ -116,13 +116,14 @@ if [[ -z $ES_VERSION || -z $KBN_VERSION ]]; then
   show_help
 fi
 
-echo "Building JDK-patched ES base image ..."
-export ES_PATCHED_IMAGE="es-ror-patched:${ES_VERSION}"
-docker build \
-  --build-arg BASE_IMAGE="${ROR_ES_REPO}:${ES_VERSION}-ror-${ROR_ES_VERSION}" \
-  --build-arg ES_VERSION="$ES_VERSION" \
-  -t "$ES_PATCHED_IMAGE" \
-  ../common/images/es-jdk-patch/
+ROR_ES_IMAGE="${ROR_ES_REPO}:${ES_VERSION}-ror-${ROR_ES_VERSION}"
+ROR_KBN_IMAGE="${ROR_KBN_REPO}:${KBN_VERSION}-ror-${ROR_KBN_VERSION}"
+
+echo "Pre-pulling ES image $ROR_ES_IMAGE ..."
+docker pull "$ROR_ES_IMAGE" || { echo "Failed to pull ES image: $ROR_ES_IMAGE"; exit 1; }
+
+echo "Pre-pulling Kibana image $ROR_KBN_IMAGE ..."
+docker pull "$ROR_KBN_IMAGE" || { echo "Failed to pull Kibana image: $ROR_KBN_IMAGE"; exit 1; }
 
 echo "Bootstrapping the docker-based environment ..."
 echo "Cluster type: $CLUSTER_TYPE"