diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
index de4d3ada51a..ac423c42811 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
@@ -43,9 +43,7 @@ subprojects {
         final FileCollection classDirectories = project.files(files).filter { it.exists() }
 
         doFirst {
-          String cp = project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin.asPath
-          cp = cp.replaceAll(":[^:]*/asm-debug-all-5.1.jar:", ":")
-          args('-cp', cp, 'org.elasticsearch.xpack.test.feature_aware.FeatureAwareCheck')
+          args('-cp', project.configurations.featureAwarePlugin.asPath, 'org.elasticsearch.xpack.test.feature_aware.FeatureAwareCheck')
           classDirectories.each { args it.getAbsolutePath() }
         }
         doLast {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/sql/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/sql/build.gradle
index 8b406235985..19dd1a08ec6 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/sql/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/sql/build.gradle
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@ integTest.enabled = false
 
 dependencies {
     compileOnly "org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core:${version}"
-    compileOnly project(':modules:lang-painless')
+    compileOnly(project(':modules:lang-painless')) {
+        // exclude ASM to not affect featureAware task on Java 10+
+        exclude group: "org.ow2.asm"
+    }
     compile project('sql-proto')
     compile "org.elasticsearch.plugin:aggs-matrix-stats-client:${version}"
     compile "org.antlr:antlr4-runtime:4.5.3"