diff --git a/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/ElasticsearchJavadocPlugin.java b/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/ElasticsearchJavadocPlugin.java
index dbd8181624f65..56e7cb209dcdf 100644
--- a/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/ElasticsearchJavadocPlugin.java
+++ b/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/ElasticsearchJavadocPlugin.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Configuration;
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.Dependency;
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.ProjectDependency;
-import org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.dependencies.ProjectDependencyInternal;
 import org.gradle.api.plugins.BasePluginExtension;
 import org.gradle.api.plugins.JavaPlugin;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.javadoc.Javadoc;
@@ -88,7 +87,8 @@ private void configureJavadocForConfiguration(Project project, boolean shadow, C
 
     private void configureDependency(Project project, boolean shadowed, ProjectDependency dep) {
         // we should use variant aware dependency management to resolve artifacts required for javadoc here
-        Project upstreamProject = project.project(((ProjectDependencyInternal) dep).getIdentityPath().getPath());
+        String buildTreePath = dep.getPath();
+        Project upstreamProject = project.project(buildTreePath);
         if (upstreamProject == null) {
             return;
         }
diff --git a/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/TestWithDependenciesPlugin.java b/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/TestWithDependenciesPlugin.java
index e24b1afa7747b..b561144554f47 100644
--- a/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/TestWithDependenciesPlugin.java
+++ b/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/TestWithDependenciesPlugin.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.dsl.DependencyHandler;
 import org.gradle.api.attributes.Attribute;
 import org.gradle.api.attributes.LibraryElements;
-import org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.dependencies.ProjectDependencyInternal;
 import org.gradle.api.plugins.ExtraPropertiesExtension;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.Copy;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.SourceSetContainer;
@@ -69,9 +68,7 @@ private static void addPluginResources(final Project project, final ProjectDepen
                 project.getObjects().named(LibraryElements.class, LibraryElements.RESOURCES)
             );
         DependencyHandler dependencyHandler = project.getDependencies();
-        ProjectDependencyInternal pluginProject = (ProjectDependencyInternal) projectDependency;
-
-        String path = pluginProject.getIdentityPath().getPath();
+        String path = projectDependency.getPath();
         Dependency pluginMetadataDependency = dependencyHandler.project(Map.of("path", path));
         dependencyHandler.add(metadataConfiguration, pluginMetadataDependency);
         project.getTasks().register(taskName, Copy.class, copy -> {
diff --git a/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/rest/RestTestBasePlugin.java b/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/rest/RestTestBasePlugin.java
index 32a766953f9b8..8c2a71e010dbb 100644
--- a/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/rest/RestTestBasePlugin.java
+++ b/build-tools-internal/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/test/rest/RestTestBasePlugin.java
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ private void copyDependencies(Project project, DependencySet dependencies, Confi
         configuration.getDependencies()
             .stream()
             .filter(d -> d instanceof ProjectDependency)
-            .map(d -> project.getDependencies().project(Map.of("path", ((ProjectDependencyInternal) d).getIdentityPath().getPath())))
+            .map(d -> project.getDependencies().project(Map.of("path", ((ProjectDependencyInternal) d).getPath())))
             .forEach(dependencies::add);
     }
 
@@ -331,9 +331,7 @@ private Configuration createPluginConfiguration(Project project, String name, bo
                         Dependency dependency = iterator.next();
                         // this logic of relying on other projects metadata should probably live in a build service
                         if (dependency instanceof ProjectDependency projectDependency) {
-                            Project dependencyProject = project.project(
-                                ((ProjectDependencyInternal) projectDependency).getIdentityPath().getPath()
-                            );
+                            Project dependencyProject = project.project(((ProjectDependencyInternal) projectDependency).getPath());
                             List<String> extendedPlugins = dependencyProject.getExtensions()
                                 .getByType(PluginPropertiesExtension.class)
                                 .getExtendedPlugins();