diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/exhaustive-tests/generate-steps.py b/.buildkite/scripts/exhaustive-tests/generate-steps.py
index ab1a37e4cff..bcbee4e6241 100644
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/exhaustive-tests/generate-steps.py
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/exhaustive-tests/generate-steps.py
@@ -147,11 +147,6 @@ def acceptance_linux_steps() -> list[typing.Any]:
 set -eo pipefail
 source .buildkite/scripts/common/vm-agent-multi-jdk.sh
 source /etc/os-release
-if [[ "$$(echo $$ID_LIKE | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" =~ (rhel|fedora) && "$${VERSION_ID%.*}" -le 7 ]]; then
-  # jruby-9.3.10.0 unavailable on centos-7 / oel-7, see https://github.com/jruby/jruby/issues/7579#issuecomment-1425885324 / https://github.com/jruby/jruby/issues/7695
-  # we only need a working jruby to run the acceptance test framework -- the packages have been prebuilt in a previous stage
-  rbenv local jruby-9.4.8.0
-fi
 ci/acceptance_tests.sh"""),
         }
         steps.append(step)