diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/disutils.version.yml b/changelogs/fragments/disutils.version.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..48f69e4bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/disutils.version.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "Various modules and plugins - use vendored version of ``distutils.version`` included in ansible-core 2.12 if available. This avoids breakage when ``distutils`` is removed from the standard library of Python 3.12. Note that ansible-core 2.11, ansible-base 2.10 and Ansible 2.9 are right now not compatible with Python 3.12, hence this fix does not target these ansible-core/-base/2.9 versions."
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/version.py b/plugins/module_utils/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..73934eb0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# Copyright: (c) 2021, Felix Fontein <felix@fontein.de>
+# GNU General Public License v3.0+ (see COPYING or https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)
+
+"""Provide version object to compare version numbers."""
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+from ansible.module_utils.six import raise_from
+
+try:
+    from ansible.module_utils.compat.version import LooseVersion  # noqa: F401
+except ImportError:
+    try:
+        from distutils.version import LooseVersion  # noqa: F401
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        raise_from(ImportError('To use this plugin or module with ansible-core < 2.11, you need to use Python < 3.12 with distutils.version present'), exc)
diff --git a/plugins/modules/vmware_category.py b/plugins/modules/vmware_category.py
index 78e6ee18b..f50b9e691 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/vmware_category.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/vmware_category.py
@@ -151,10 +151,9 @@
     }
 '''
 
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
-
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
+from ansible_collections.community.vmware.plugins.module_utils.version import LooseVersion
 from ansible_collections.community.vmware.plugins.module_utils.vmware import connect_to_api
 from ansible_collections.community.vmware.plugins.module_utils.vmware_rest_client import VmwareRestClient
 
diff --git a/plugins/modules/vmware_vc_infraprofile_info.py b/plugins/modules/vmware_vc_infraprofile_info.py
index 58f515fbd..9e27d17fb 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/vmware_vc_infraprofile_info.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/vmware_vc_infraprofile_info.py
@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@
     }
 '''
 
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
+from ansible_collections.community.vmware.plugins.module_utils.version import LooseVersion
 from ansible_collections.community.vmware.plugins.module_utils.vmware_rest_client import VmwareRestClient
 from ansible_collections.community.vmware.plugins.module_utils.vmware import PyVmomi
 import json