diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3caec5facae..64c8afd8396 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ To run Feldera from sources, ensure at least 6 GB of free space in the sources d
 - cmake
 - libssl-dev
 - libsasl2-dev
-- golang-go (required to build aws-lc-fips-sys when using rustls FIPS)
+- golang-go (only to build with `--features fips`, which compiles aws-lc-fips-sys from source; a default build does not need it)
 - pkg-config
 - libzstd-dev
 - clang
diff --git a/deploy/Dockerfile b/deploy/Dockerfile
index 2ebef2bfc62..d461f1e07e1 100644
--- a/deploy/Dockerfile
+++ b/deploy/Dockerfile
@@ -77,17 +77,6 @@ RUN arch=`dpkg --print-architecture | sed "s/arm64/aarch64/g" | sed "s/amd64/x86
 ENV PATH="$PATH:/home/ubuntu/.cargo/bin:/home/ubuntu/mold/bin"
 ENV RUSTFLAGS="-C link-arg=-fuse-ld=mold -C link-arg=-Wl,--compress-debug-sections=zlib"
 
-# Go is required to build aws-lc-fips-sys when rustls is built with FIPS.
-# Installed from upstream rather than Ubuntu's golang-go package because the
-# 24.04 package is stuck at 1.22.2 and ships many unfixed CVEs that fail our
-# image scan. Revert to apt's golang-go once Ubuntu ships a patched version.
-RUN arch=`dpkg --print-architecture`; \
-  curl -LO https://go.dev/dl/go1.26.5.linux-$arch.tar.gz \
-  && tar -xzf go1.26.5.linux-$arch.tar.gz \
-  && mv go goroot \
-  && rm go1.26.5.linux-$arch.tar.gz
-ENV PATH="$PATH:/home/ubuntu/goroot/bin"
-
 # Install Samply for profiling
 RUN curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/feldera/samply/releases/download/v0.13.2/samply-installer.sh | sh