diff --git a/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/login.ts b/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/login.ts
index 884c0a656df56..fb2a93770f8e7 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/login.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/login.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
  * 2.0; you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License
  * 2.0.
  */
-
-import * as yaml from 'js-yaml';
 import { LoginState } from '@kbn/security-plugin/common/login_state';
 import type { SecurityRoleName } from '@kbn/security-solution-plugin/common/test';
 import { KNOWN_SERVERLESS_ROLE_DEFINITIONS } from '@kbn/security-solution-plugin/common/test';
@@ -18,160 +16,36 @@ import {
 } from '../env_var_names_constants';
 import { API_HEADERS, rootRequest } from './api_calls/common';
 
-/**
- * Credentials in the `kibana.dev.yml` config file will be used to authenticate
- * with Kibana when credentials are not provided via environment variables
- */
-const KIBANA_DEV_YML_PATH = '../../../config/kibana.dev.yml';
-
-/**
- * The configuration path in `kibana.dev.yml` to the username to be used when
- * authenticating with Kibana.
- */
-const ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME_CONFIG_PATH = 'config.elasticsearch.username';
-
-/**
- * The configuration path in `kibana.dev.yml` to the password to be used when
- * authenticating with Kibana.
- */
-const ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD_CONFIG_PATH = 'config.elasticsearch.password';
-
-/**
- * Authenticates with Kibana using, if specified, credentials specified by
- * environment variables. The credentials in `kibana.dev.yml` will be used
- * for authentication when the environment variables are unset.
- *
- * To speed the execution of tests, prefer this non-interactive authentication,
- * which is faster than authentication via Kibana's interactive login page.
- */
-export const login = (role?: SecurityRoleName): void => {
-  if (role != null) {
-    loginWithRole(role);
-  } else if (credentialsProvidedByEnvironment()) {
-    loginViaEnvironmentCredentials();
-  } else {
-    loginViaConfig();
-  }
-};
-
 export interface User {
   username: string;
   password: string;
 }
 
-export const loginWithUser = (user: User): void => {
-  loginWithUsernameAndPassword(user.username, user.password);
-};
-
-/**
- * Builds a URL with basic auth using the passed in user.
- *
- * @param user the user information to build the basic auth with
- * @param route string route to visit
- */
-export const constructUrlWithUser = (user: User, route: string): string => {
-  const url = Cypress.config().baseUrl;
-  const kibana = new URL(String(url));
-  const hostname = kibana.hostname;
-  const username = user.username;
-  const password = user.password;
-  const protocol = kibana.protocol.replace(':', '');
-  const port = kibana.port;
-
-  const path = `${route.startsWith('/') ? '' : '/'}${route}`;
-  const strUrl = `${protocol}://${username}:${password}@${hostname}:${port}${path}`;
-  const builtUrl = new URL(strUrl);
-
-  cy.log(`origin: ${builtUrl.href}`);
-  return builtUrl.href;
+export const defaultUser: User = {
+  username: Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME),
+  password: Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD),
 };
 
-/**
- * Authenticates with a predefined role
- *
- * @param role role name
- */
-const loginWithRole = (role: SecurityRoleName): void => {
+export const getEnvAuth = (role: SecurityRoleName): User => {
   if (
     (Cypress.env(IS_SERVERLESS) || Cypress.env(CLOUD_SERVERLESS)) &&
     !(role in KNOWN_SERVERLESS_ROLE_DEFINITIONS)
   ) {
     throw new Error(`An attempt to log in with unsupported by Serverless role "${role}".`);
   }
-
-  const password = 'changeme';
-
-  cy.log(`origin: ${Cypress.config().baseUrl}`);
-  loginWithUsernameAndPassword(role, password);
-};
-
-/**
- * Returns `true` if the credentials used to login to Kibana are provided
- * via environment variables
- */
-const credentialsProvidedByEnvironment = (): boolean =>
-  Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME) != null && Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD) != null;
-
-/**
- * Authenticates with Kibana by reading credentials from the
- * `CYPRESS_ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME` and `CYPRESS_ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD`
- * environment variables, and POSTing the username and password directly to
- * Kibana's `/internal/security/login` endpoint, bypassing the login page (for speed).
- */
-const loginViaEnvironmentCredentials = (): void => {
-  cy.log(
-    `Authenticating via environment credentials from the \`CYPRESS_${ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME}\` and \`CYPRESS_${ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD}\` environment variables`
-  );
-
-  const username = Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME);
-  const password = Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD);
-  loginWithUsernameAndPassword(username, password);
-};
-
-/**
- * Authenticates with Kibana by reading credentials from the
- * `kibana.dev.yml` file and POSTing the username and password directly to
- * Kibana's `/internal/security/login` endpoint, bypassing the login page (for speed).
- */
-const loginViaConfig = (): void => {
-  cy.log(
-    `Authenticating via config credentials \`${ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME_CONFIG_PATH}\` and \`${ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD_CONFIG_PATH}\` from \`${KIBANA_DEV_YML_PATH}\``
-  );
-
-  // read the login details from `kibana.dev.yaml`
-  cy.readFile(KIBANA_DEV_YML_PATH).then((kibanaDevYml) => {
-    const { username, password } = yaml.safeLoad(kibanaDevYml);
-    loginWithUsernameAndPassword(username, password);
-  });
-};
-
-/**
- * Get the configured auth details that were used to spawn cypress
- *
- * @returns the default Elasticsearch username and password for this environment
- */
-export const getEnvAuth = (): User => {
-  if (credentialsProvidedByEnvironment()) {
-    return {
-      username: Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME),
-      password: Cypress.env(ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD),
-    };
-  } else {
-    let user: User = { username: '', password: '' };
-    cy.readFile(KIBANA_DEV_YML_PATH).then((devYml) => {
-      const config = yaml.safeLoad(devYml);
-      user = { username: config.elasticsearch.username, password: config.elasticsearch.password };
-    });
-
-    return user;
-  }
+  const user: User = {
+    username: role,
+    password: 'changeme',
+  };
+  return user;
 };
 
-export const logout = (): void => {
-  cy.visit(LOGOUT_URL);
+export const login = (role?: SecurityRoleName): void => {
+  const user = role ? getEnvAuth(role) : defaultUser;
+  loginWithUser(user);
 };
 
-const loginWithUsernameAndPassword = (username: string, password: string): void => {
+export const loginWithUser = (user: User): void => {
   const baseUrl = Cypress.config().baseUrl;
   if (!baseUrl) {
     throw Error(`Cypress config baseUrl not set!`);
@@ -192,9 +66,13 @@ const loginWithUsernameAndPassword = (username: string, password: string): void
         providerType: basicProvider?.type,
         providerName: basicProvider?.name,
         currentURL: '/',
-        params: { username, password },
+        params: { username: user.username, password: user.password },
       },
       headers: API_HEADERS,
     });
   });
 };
+
+export const logout = (): void => {
+  cy.visit(LOGOUT_URL);
+};
diff --git a/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/privileges.ts b/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/privileges.ts
index 19c056cfba8e3..04dddd6da4384 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/privileges.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/security_solution_cypress/cypress/tasks/privileges.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-import { constructUrlWithUser, getEnvAuth } from './login';
+import { API_AUTH } from './api_calls/common';
 
 interface User {
   username: string;
@@ -183,14 +183,14 @@ const getUserInfo = (user: User): UserInfo => ({
 });
 
 export const createUsersAndRoles = (users: User[], roles: Role[]) => {
-  const envUser = getEnvAuth();
   for (const role of roles) {
     cy.log(`Creating role: ${JSON.stringify(role)}`);
     cy.request({
       body: role.privileges,
       headers: { 'kbn-xsrf': 'cypress-creds', 'x-elastic-internal-origin': 'security-solution' },
       method: 'PUT',
-      url: constructUrlWithUser(envUser, `/api/security/role/${role.name}`),
+      auth: API_AUTH,
+      url: `/api/security/role/${role.name}`,
     })
       .its('status')
       .should('eql', 204);
@@ -209,7 +209,8 @@ export const createUsersAndRoles = (users: User[], roles: Role[]) => {
       },
       headers: { 'kbn-xsrf': 'cypress-creds', 'x-elastic-internal-origin': 'security-solution' },
       method: 'POST',
-      url: constructUrlWithUser(envUser, `/internal/security/users/${user.username}`),
+      auth: API_AUTH,
+      url: `/internal/security/users/${user.username}`,
     })
       .its('status')
       .should('eql', 200);
@@ -217,13 +218,13 @@ export const createUsersAndRoles = (users: User[], roles: Role[]) => {
 };
 
 export const deleteUsersAndRoles = (users: User[], roles: Role[]) => {
-  const envUser = getEnvAuth();
   for (const user of users) {
     cy.log(`Deleting user: ${JSON.stringify(user)}`);
     cy.request({
       headers: { 'kbn-xsrf': 'cypress-creds', 'x-elastic-internal-origin': 'security-solution' },
       method: 'DELETE',
-      url: constructUrlWithUser(envUser, `/internal/security/users/${user.username}`),
+      auth: API_AUTH,
+      url: `/internal/security/users/${user.username}`,
       failOnStatusCode: false,
     })
       .its('status')
@@ -235,7 +236,8 @@ export const deleteUsersAndRoles = (users: User[], roles: Role[]) => {
     cy.request({
       headers: { 'kbn-xsrf': 'cypress-creds', 'x-elastic-internal-origin': 'security-solution' },
       method: 'DELETE',
-      url: constructUrlWithUser(envUser, `/api/security/role/${role.name}`),
+      auth: API_AUTH,
+      url: `/api/security/role/${role.name}`,
       failOnStatusCode: false,
     })
       .its('status')