diff --git a/contrib/heat_docker/heat_docker/resources/docker_container.py b/contrib/heat_docker/heat_docker/resources/docker_container.py
index a6703bc169..fb7a084f2c 100644
--- a/contrib/heat_docker/heat_docker/resources/docker_container.py
+++ b/contrib/heat_docker/heat_docker/resources/docker_container.py
@@ -14,9 +14,8 @@
 #    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #    under the License.
 
-import distutils
-
 from oslo_log import log as logging
+import packaging.version
 
 from heat.common import exception
 from heat.common.i18n import _
@@ -558,8 +557,8 @@ def available_resource_mapping():
 
 
 def compare_version(v1, v2):
-    s1 = distutils.version.StrictVersion(v1)
-    s2 = distutils.version.StrictVersion(v2)
+    s1 = packaging.version.Version(v1)
+    s2 = packaging.version.Version(v2)
     if s1 == s2:
         return 0
     elif s1 > s2:
diff --git a/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py b/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py
index 413f3a7582..14d17f2983 100755
--- a/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py
+++ b/heat/cloudinit/loguserdata.py
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ exec $interpreter "$0"
 '''
 
 import datetime
-from distutils import version
 import errno
 import logging
 import os
@@ -42,6 +41,7 @@ import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
 
+from packaging import version
 import pkg_resources
 
 
@@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger('heat-provision')
 
 def chk_ci_version():
     try:
-        v = version.LooseVersion(
+        v = version.Version(
             pkg_resources.get_distribution('cloud-init').version)
-        return v >= version.LooseVersion('0.6.0')
+        return v >= version.Version('0.6.0')
     except Exception:
         pass
     data = subprocess.Popen(['cloud-init', '--version'],
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index dddc4239e1..71aaf3662d 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ osprofiler>=1.4.0 # Apache-2.0
 oslo.versionedobjects>=1.31.2 # Apache-2.0
 PasteDeploy>=1.5.0 # MIT
 aodhclient>=0.9.0 # Apache-2.0
+packaging>=21.0 # Apache-2.0
 python-barbicanclient>=4.5.2 # Apache-2.0
 python-blazarclient>=1.0.1 # Apache-2.0
 python-cinderclient>=3.3.0 # Apache-2.0