diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3f30b2053f..0eef411943 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ Deprecated Functionality
   compatible iterators. This enables the use of standard constructs such
   as ranged-for loops to iterate over those objects.
 
+- The ``zeek::util::zeekenv()`` function is deprecated since use of all
+  environment variables prefixed by ``BRO_`` is now removed and calling
+  ``getenv()`` directly with ``ZEEK_`` environment variables can be done.
+
 Zeek 4.0.0
 ==========
 
diff --git a/src/DNS_Mgr.cc b/src/DNS_Mgr.cc
index 67c7b0e264..650312e154 100644
--- a/src/DNS_Mgr.cc
+++ b/src/DNS_Mgr.cc
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ void DNS_Mgr::InitSource()
 	// script-layer option to configure the DNS resolver as it may not be
 	// configured to the user's desired address at the time when we need to to
 	// the lookup.
-	auto dns_resolver = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER");
+	auto dns_resolver = getenv("ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER");
 	auto dns_resolver_addr = dns_resolver ? IPAddr(dns_resolver) : IPAddr();
 	char err[NB_DNS_ERRSIZE];
 
diff --git a/src/Options.cc b/src/Options.cc
index 6ab5b5bb0c..d1cc0cb53a 100644
--- a/src/Options.cc
+++ b/src/Options.cc
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ void Options::filter_supervised_node_options()
 
 bool fake_dns()
 	{
-	return util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DNS_FAKE");
+	return getenv("ZEEK_DNS_FAKE");
 	}
 
 extern const char* zeek_version();
@@ -135,8 +135,8 @@ void usage(const char* prog, int code)
 	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_SEED_FILE                | file to load seeds from (not set)\n");
 	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_LOG_SUFFIX               | ASCII log file extension (.%s)\n", logging::writer::detail::Ascii::LogExt().c_str());
 	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_PROFILER_FILE            | Output file for script execution statistics (not set)\n");
-	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN         | Disable Zeekygen documentation support (%s)\n", util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN") ? "set" : "not set");
-	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER             | IPv4/IPv6 address of DNS resolver to use (%s)\n", util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER") ? util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER") : "not set, will use first IPv4 address from /etc/resolv.conf");
+	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN         | Disable Zeekygen documentation support (%s)\n", getenv("ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN") ? "set" : "not set");
+	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER             | IPv4/IPv6 address of DNS resolver to use (%s)\n", getenv("ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER") ? getenv("ZEEK_DNS_RESOLVER") : "not set, will use first IPv4 address from /etc/resolv.conf");
 	fprintf(stderr, "    $ZEEK_DEBUG_LOG_STDERR         | Use stderr for debug logs generated via the -B flag");
 
 	fprintf(stderr, "\n");
diff --git a/src/ScriptCoverageManager.cc b/src/ScriptCoverageManager.cc
index 17f25eee83..e67dfb8c7c 100644
--- a/src/ScriptCoverageManager.cc
+++ b/src/ScriptCoverageManager.cc
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ void ScriptCoverageManager::AddStmt(Stmt* s)
 
 bool ScriptCoverageManager::ReadStats()
 	{
-	char* bf = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_PROFILER_FILE");
+	char* bf = getenv("ZEEK_PROFILER_FILE");
 
 	if ( ! bf )
 		return false;
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ bool ScriptCoverageManager::ReadStats()
 
 bool ScriptCoverageManager::WriteStats()
 	{
-	char* bf = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_PROFILER_FILE");
+	char* bf = getenv("ZEEK_PROFILER_FILE");
 
 	if ( ! bf )
 		return false;
diff --git a/src/broker/Manager.cc b/src/broker/Manager.cc
index 27fb72ed53..0c265a732f 100644
--- a/src/broker/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/broker/Manager.cc
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ void Manager::InitPostScript()
 	else
 		reporter->FatalError("Invalid Broker::scheduler_policy: %s", scheduler_policy);
 
-	auto max_threads_env = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_BROKER_MAX_THREADS");
+	auto max_threads_env = getenv("ZEEK_BROKER_MAX_THREADS");
 
 	if ( max_threads_env )
 		config.set("caf.scheduler.max-threads", atoi(max_threads_env));
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ void Manager::Peer(const string& addr, uint16_t port, double retry)
 	DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Starting to peer with %s:%" PRIu16,
 		addr.c_str(), port);
 
-	auto e = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DEFAULT_CONNECT_RETRY");
+	auto e = getenv("ZEEK_DEFAULT_CONNECT_RETRY");
 
 	if ( e )
 		retry = atoi(e);
diff --git a/src/logging/writers/ascii/Ascii.cc b/src/logging/writers/ascii/Ascii.cc
index ec48bf6c85..926960faf4 100644
--- a/src/logging/writers/ascii/Ascii.cc
+++ b/src/logging/writers/ascii/Ascii.cc
@@ -850,7 +850,7 @@ void Ascii::RotateLeftoverLogs()
 
 string Ascii::LogExt()
 	{
-	const char* ext = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_LOG_SUFFIX");
+	const char* ext = getenv("ZEEK_LOG_SUFFIX");
 
 	if ( ! ext )
 		ext = "log";
diff --git a/src/util.cc b/src/util.cc
index d045dce92c..c584678999 100644
--- a/src/util.cc
+++ b/src/util.cc
@@ -876,7 +876,7 @@ FILE* rotate_file(const char* name, RecordVal* rotate_info)
 
 const char* log_file_name(const char* tag)
 	{
-	const char* env = zeekenv("ZEEK_LOG_SUFFIX");
+	const char* env = getenv("ZEEK_LOG_SUFFIX");
 	return fmt("%s.%s", tag, (env ? env : "log"));
 	}
 
@@ -1705,7 +1705,7 @@ const std::string& zeek_path()
 	{
 	if ( zeek_path_value.empty() )
 		{
-		const char* path = zeekenv("ZEEKPATH");
+		const char* path = getenv("ZEEKPATH");
 
 		if ( ! path )
 			path = DEFAULT_ZEEKPATH;
@@ -1718,7 +1718,7 @@ const std::string& zeek_path()
 
 const char* zeek_plugin_path()
 	{
-	const char* path = zeekenv("ZEEK_PLUGIN_PATH");
+	const char* path = getenv("ZEEK_PLUGIN_PATH");
 
 	if ( ! path )
 		path = BRO_PLUGIN_INSTALL_PATH;
@@ -1728,7 +1728,7 @@ const char* zeek_plugin_path()
 
 const char* zeek_plugin_activate()
 	{
-	const char* names = zeekenv("ZEEK_PLUGIN_ACTIVATE");
+	const char* names = getenv("ZEEK_PLUGIN_ACTIVATE");
 
 	if ( ! names )
 		names = "";
@@ -2338,35 +2338,9 @@ void zeek_strerror_r(int zeek_errno, char* buf, size_t buflen)
 	strerror_r_helper(res, buf, buflen);
 	}
 
-static const std::map<const char*, const char*, CompareString> legacy_vars = {
-	{ "ZEEKPATH", "BROPATH" },
-	{ "ZEEK_PLUGIN_PATH", "BRO_PLUGIN_PATH" },
-	{ "ZEEK_PLUGIN_ACTIVATE", "BRO_PLUGIN_ACTIVATE" },
-	{ "ZEEK_PREFIXES", "BRO_PREFIXES" },
-	{ "ZEEK_DNS_FAKE", "BRO_DNS_FAKE" },
-	{ "ZEEK_SEED_FILE", "BRO_SEED_FILE" },
-	{ "ZEEK_LOG_SUFFIX", "BRO_LOG_SUFFIX" },
-	{ "ZEEK_PROFILER_FILE", "BRO_PROFILER_FILE" },
-	{ "ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN", "BRO_DISABLE_BROXYGEN" },
-	{ "ZEEK_DEFAULT_CONNECT_RETRY", "BRO_DEFAULT_CONNECT_RETRY" },
-	{ "ZEEK_BROKER_MAX_THREADS", "BRO_BROKER_MAX_THREADS" },
-	{ "ZEEK_DEFAULT_LISTEN_ADDRESS", "BRO_DEFAULT_LISTEN_ADDRESS" },
-	{ "ZEEK_DEFAULT_LISTEN_RETRY", "BRO_DEFAULT_LISTEN_RETRY" },
-};
-
 char* zeekenv(const char* name)
 	{
-	auto rval = getenv(name);
-
-	if ( rval )
-		return rval;
-
-	auto it = legacy_vars.find(name);
-
-	if ( it == legacy_vars.end() )
-		return rval;
-
-	return getenv(it->second);
+	return getenv(name);
 	}
 
 static string json_escape_byte(char c)
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 6d74113fa8..27de350a1e 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -526,6 +526,7 @@ void zeek_strerror_r(int zeek_errno, char* buf, size_t buflen);
  * A wrapper function for getenv().  Helps check for existence of
  * legacy environment variable names that map to the latest \a name.
  */
+[[deprecated("Remove in v5.1.  Use getenv() directly.")]]
 char* zeekenv(const char* name);
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/zeek-setup.cc b/src/zeek-setup.cc
index 44f1dbc70e..5d0bd9bc56 100644
--- a/src/zeek-setup.cc
+++ b/src/zeek-setup.cc
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ SetupResult setup(int argc, char** argv, Options* zopts)
 	RETSIGTYPE (*oldhandler)(int);
 
 	zeek_script_prefixes = options.script_prefixes;
-	auto zeek_prefixes = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_PREFIXES");
+	auto zeek_prefixes = getenv("ZEEK_PREFIXES");
 
 	if ( zeek_prefixes )
 		util::tokenize_string(zeek_prefixes, ":", &zeek_script_prefixes);
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ SetupResult setup(int argc, char** argv, Options* zopts)
 		supervisor_mgr = new Supervisor(std::move(cfg), std::move(*stem));
 		}
 
-	const char* seed_load_file = util::zeekenv("ZEEK_SEED_FILE");
+	const char* seed_load_file = getenv("ZEEK_SEED_FILE");
 
 	if ( options.random_seed_input_file )
 		seed_load_file = options.random_seed_input_file->data();
@@ -879,7 +879,7 @@ SetupResult setup(int argc, char** argv, Options* zopts)
 	// Drain the event queue here to support the protocols framework configuring DPM
 	event_mgr.Drain();
 
-	if ( reporter->Errors() > 0 && ! util::zeekenv("ZEEK_ALLOW_INIT_ERRORS") )
+	if ( reporter->Errors() > 0 && ! getenv("ZEEK_ALLOW_INIT_ERRORS") )
 		reporter->FatalError("errors occurred while initializing");
 
 	run_state::detail::zeek_init_done = true;
diff --git a/src/zeek.bif b/src/zeek.bif
index 2a05ed932e..eb936c8a08 100644
--- a/src/zeek.bif
+++ b/src/zeek.bif
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ function network_time%(%): time
 ## .. zeek:see:: setenv
 function getenv%(var: string%): string
 	%{
-	const char* env_val = zeek::util::zeekenv(var->CheckString());
+	const char* env_val = getenv(var->CheckString());
 	if ( ! env_val )
 		env_val = "";	// ###
 	return zeek::make_intrusive<zeek::StringVal>(env_val);
diff --git a/src/zeekygen/Manager.cc b/src/zeekygen/Manager.cc
index 5260b7fc3f..0352bf106f 100644
--- a/src/zeekygen/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/zeekygen/Manager.cc
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ Manager::Manager(const string& arg_config, const string& bro_command)
 	  identifiers(), all_info(), last_identifier_seen(), incomplete_type(),
 	  enum_mappings(), config(arg_config), bro_mtime()
 	{
-	if ( util::zeekenv("ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN") )
+	if ( getenv("ZEEK_DISABLE_ZEEKYGEN") )
 		disabled = true;
 
 	// If running bro without the "-X" option, then we don't need bro_mtime.