diff --git a/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval b/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval
index 422680520dc..c35d874559f 100755
--- a/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval
+++ b/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval
@@ -93,10 +93,6 @@ fi
 
 declare -a args=("$@")
 
-if [ -e "$CONF_DIR" ]; then
-  args=("${args[@]}" -Edefault.path.conf="$CONF_DIR")
-fi
-
 cd "$ES_HOME" > /dev/null
 "$JAVA" $ES_JAVA_OPTS -cp "$ES_CLASSPATH" -Des.path.home="$ES_HOME" org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.trigger.schedule.tool.CronEvalTool "${args[@]}"
 status=$?
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/10_basic.bats b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/10_basic.bats
index 30c91ea94c2..28d653dd16f 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/10_basic.bats
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/10_basic.bats
@@ -49,4 +49,13 @@ setup() {
     assert_file "$ESCONFIG/x-pack/roles.yml" f elasticsearch elasticsearch 660
     assert_file "$ESCONFIG/x-pack/role_mapping.yml" f elasticsearch elasticsearch 660
     assert_file "$ESCONFIG/x-pack/log4j2.properties" f elasticsearch elasticsearch 660
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+@test "[X-PACK] verify croneval works" {
+    run $ESHOME/bin/x-pack/croneval "0 0 20 ? * MON-THU" -c 2
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"Valid!"* ]] || {
+      echo "Expected output message to contain [Valid!] but found: $output"
+      false
+    }
+}