diff --git a/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/__fixtures__/kibana.yml b/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/__fixtures__/kibana.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index a5a8a9f420fd1..0000000000000
--- a/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/__fixtures__/kibana.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-path.data: /path/from/yml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.test.ts b/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.test.ts
index 36d401d5dbda8..608f3cb2cfeb2 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.test.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.test.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@
  * Side Public License, v 1.
  */
 
-import { join } from 'path';
 import { accessSync, constants } from 'fs';
-import { getConfigPath, getDataPath, getLogsPath, getConfigDirectory, buildDataPaths } from '.';
+import { getConfigPath, getDataPath, getLogsPath, getConfigDirectory } from '.';
 import { REPO_ROOT } from '@kbn/repo-info';
 
 expect.addSnapshotSerializer(
@@ -47,52 +46,3 @@ describe('Default path finder', () => {
     expect(() => accessSync(configPath, constants.R_OK)).not.toThrow();
   });
 });
-
-describe('Custom data path finder', () => {
-  const originalArgv = process.argv;
-
-  beforeEach(() => {
-    process.argv = originalArgv;
-  });
-
-  it('overrides path.data when provided as command line argument', () => {
-    process.argv = ['--foo', 'bar', '--path.data', '/some/data/path', '--baz', 'xyz'];
-
-    /*
-     * Test buildDataPaths since getDataPath returns the first valid directory and
-     * custom paths do not exist in environment. Custom directories are built during env init.
-     */
-    expect(buildDataPaths()).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
-      Array [
-        <absolute path>/some/data/path,
-        <absolute path>/data,
-        "/var/lib/kibana",
-      ]
-    `);
-  });
-
-  it('ignores the path.data flag when no value is provided', () => {
-    process.argv = ['--foo', 'bar', '--path.data', '--baz', 'xyz'];
-
-    expect(buildDataPaths()).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
-      Array [
-        <absolute path>/data,
-        "/var/lib/kibana",
-      ]
-    `);
-  });
-
-  it('overrides path.when when provided by kibana.yml', () => {
-    process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF = join(__dirname, '__fixtures__');
-
-    expect(buildDataPaths()).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
-      Array [
-        <absolute path>/path/from/yml,
-        <absolute path>/data,
-        "/var/lib/kibana",
-      ]
-    `);
-
-    delete process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF;
-  });
-});
diff --git a/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.ts b/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.ts
index 3dec574106470..63ca454dd04fd 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-utils/src/path/index.ts
@@ -10,18 +10,14 @@ import { join } from 'path';
 import { accessSync, constants } from 'fs';
 import { TypeOf, schema } from '@kbn/config-schema';
 import { REPO_ROOT } from '@kbn/repo-info';
-import { getConfigFromFiles } from '@kbn/config';
-import getopts from 'getopts';
 
 const isString = (v: any): v is string => typeof v === 'string';
 
-const buildConfigPaths = () => {
-  return [
-    process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF && join(process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF, 'kibana.yml'),
-    join(REPO_ROOT, 'config/kibana.yml'),
-    '/etc/kibana/kibana.yml',
-  ].filter(isString);
-};
+const CONFIG_PATHS = [
+  process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF && join(process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF, 'kibana.yml'),
+  join(REPO_ROOT, 'config/kibana.yml'),
+  '/etc/kibana/kibana.yml',
+].filter(isString);
 
 const CONFIG_DIRECTORIES = [
   process.env.KBN_PATH_CONF,
@@ -29,6 +25,8 @@ const CONFIG_DIRECTORIES = [
   '/etc/kibana',
 ].filter(isString);
 
+const DATA_PATHS = [join(REPO_ROOT, 'data'), '/var/lib/kibana'].filter(isString);
+
 const LOGS_PATHS = [join(REPO_ROOT, 'logs'), '/var/log/kibana'].filter(isString);
 
 function findFile(paths: string[]) {
@@ -43,29 +41,11 @@ function findFile(paths: string[]) {
   return availablePath || paths[0];
 }
 
-export const buildDataPaths = (): string[] => {
-  const configDataPath = getConfigFromFiles([getConfigPath()]).path?.data;
-  const argv = process.argv.slice(2);
-  const options = getopts(argv, {
-    string: ['pathData'],
-    alias: {
-      pathData: 'path.data',
-    },
-  });
-
-  return [
-    !!options.pathData && join(REPO_ROOT, options.pathData),
-    configDataPath && join(REPO_ROOT, configDataPath),
-    join(REPO_ROOT, 'data'),
-    '/var/lib/kibana',
-  ].filter(isString);
-};
-
 /**
  * Get the path of kibana.yml
  * @internal
  */
-export const getConfigPath = () => findFile(buildConfigPaths());
+export const getConfigPath = () => findFile(CONFIG_PATHS);
 
 /**
  * Get the directory containing configuration files
@@ -77,7 +57,7 @@ export const getConfigDirectory = () => findFile(CONFIG_DIRECTORIES);
  * Get the directory containing runtime data
  * @internal
  */
-export const getDataPath = () => findFile(buildDataPaths());
+export const getDataPath = () => findFile(DATA_PATHS);
 
 /**
  * Get the directory containing logs
diff --git a/packages/kbn-utils/tsconfig.json b/packages/kbn-utils/tsconfig.json
index f6e7fb408bfa2..6baa222ef8c37 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-utils/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/kbn-utils/tsconfig.json
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
   "kbn_references": [
     "@kbn/config-schema",
     "@kbn/repo-info",
-    "@kbn/config",
   ],
   "exclude": [
     "target/**/*",