diff --git a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts
index 6ba652abda3d59..741f715ba6ebe6 100644
--- a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts
@@ -206,20 +206,6 @@ describe('DocumentMigrator', () => {
       );
     });
 
-    it('coerces the current Kibana version if it has a hyphen', () => {
-      const validDefinition = {
-        kibanaVersion: '3.2.0-SNAPSHOT',
-        typeRegistry: createRegistry({
-          name: 'foo',
-          convertToMultiNamespaceTypeVersion: '3.2.0',
-          namespaceType: 'multiple',
-        }),
-        minimumConvertVersion: '0.0.0',
-        log: mockLogger,
-      };
-      expect(() => new DocumentMigrator(validDefinition)).not.toThrowError();
-    });
-
     it('validates convertToMultiNamespaceTypeVersion is not used on a patch version', () => {
       const invalidDefinition = {
         kibanaVersion: '3.2.3',
diff --git a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts
index e93586ec7ce4c2..e4b89a949d3cf7 100644
--- a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts
@@ -159,11 +159,10 @@ export class DocumentMigrator implements VersionedTransformer {
    */
   constructor({
     typeRegistry,
-    kibanaVersion: rawKibanaVersion,
+    kibanaVersion,
     minimumConvertVersion = DEFAULT_MINIMUM_CONVERT_VERSION,
     log,
   }: DocumentMigratorOptions) {
-    const kibanaVersion = rawKibanaVersion.split('-')[0]; // coerce a semver-like string (x.y.z-SNAPSHOT) or prerelease version (x.y.z-alpha) to a regular semver (x.y.z)
     validateMigrationDefinition(typeRegistry, kibanaVersion, minimumConvertVersion);
 
     this.documentMigratorOptions = { typeRegistry, kibanaVersion, log };