diff --git a/deps/rabbit/src/rabbit_peer_discovery.erl b/deps/rabbit/src/rabbit_peer_discovery.erl
index b3f8123f40cd..a53ffe6083b3 100644
--- a/deps/rabbit/src/rabbit_peer_discovery.erl
+++ b/deps/rabbit/src/rabbit_peer_discovery.erl
@@ -388,18 +388,16 @@ query_node_props(Nodes) when Nodes =/= [] ->
                   _ ->
                       VMArgs1
               end,
-    VMArgs3 = maybe_add_proto_dist_arguments(VMArgs2),
-    VMArgs4 = maybe_add_inetrc_arguments(VMArgs3),
-    VMArgs5 = maybe_add_tls_arguments(VMArgs4),
+    VMArgs3 = maybe_add_tls_arguments(VMArgs2),
     PeerStartArg = case Context of
                        #{nodename_type := longnames} ->
                            #{name => PeerName,
                              host => Suffix,
                              longnames => true,
-                             args => VMArgs5};
+                             args => VMArgs3};
                        _ ->
                            #{name => PeerName,
-                             args => VMArgs5}
+                             args => VMArgs3}
                    end,
     ?LOG_DEBUG("Peer discovery: peer node arguments: ~tp",
                [PeerStartArg]),
@@ -425,40 +423,27 @@ query_node_props(Nodes) when Nodes =/= [] ->
 query_node_props([]) ->
     [].
 
-maybe_add_proto_dist_arguments(VMArgs) ->
+maybe_add_tls_arguments(VMArgs0) ->
     case init:get_argument(proto_dist) of
-        {ok, [[Val]]} ->
-            %% See net_kernel.erl / protocol_childspecs/1
-            Mod = list_to_existing_atom(Val ++ "_dist"),
-            ModDir = filename:dirname(code:which(Mod)),
-            ["-proto_dist", Val, "-pa", ModDir | VMArgs];
+        {ok, [["inet_tls"]]} ->
+            add_tls_arguments(inet_tls, VMArgs0);
+        {ok, [["inet6_tls"]]} ->
+            add_tls_arguments(inet6_tls, VMArgs0);
         _ ->
-            VMArgs
+            VMArgs0
     end.
 
-maybe_add_inetrc_arguments(VMArgs) ->
-    %% If an inetrc file is configured, we need to use it for the temporary
-    %% hidden node too.
-    case application:get_env(kernel, inetrc) of
-        {ok, Val} when is_list(Val) ->
-            maybe_add_inetrc_arguments1(VMArgs, Val);
-        undefined ->
-            case os:getenv("ERL_INETRC") of
-                Val when is_list(Val) ->
-                    maybe_add_inetrc_arguments1(VMArgs, Val);
-                false ->
-                    VMArgs
-            end
-    end.
-
-maybe_add_inetrc_arguments1(VMArgs, Val) ->
-    %% The filename argument must be passed as a quoted string so that the
-    %% command line is correctly parsed as an Erlang string by the temporary
-    %% hidden node.
-    ValString = rabbit_misc:format("~0p", [Val]),
-    ["-kernel", "inetrc", ValString | VMArgs].
-
-maybe_add_tls_arguments(VMArgs) ->
+add_tls_arguments(InetDistModule, VMArgs0) ->
+    VMArgs1 = case InetDistModule of
+                  inet_tls ->
+                      ProtoDistArg = ["-proto_dist", "inet_tls" | VMArgs0],
+                      ["-pa", filename:dirname(code:which(inet_tls_dist))
+                       | ProtoDistArg];
+                  inet6_tls ->
+                      ProtoDistArg = ["-proto_dist", "inet6_tls" | VMArgs0],
+                      ["-pa", filename:dirname(code:which(inet6_tls_dist))
+                       | ProtoDistArg]
+              end,
     %% In the next case, RabbitMQ has been configured with additional Erlang VM
     %% arguments such as this:
     %%
@@ -509,14 +494,14 @@ maybe_add_tls_arguments(VMArgs) ->
     %%     "/usr/local/lib/erlang/lib/ssl-11.0.3/ebin",
     %%     "-proto_dist","inet_tls","-boot",
     %%     "no_dot_erlang","-hidden"],
-    VMArgs1 = case init:get_argument(ssl_dist_opt) of
+    VMArgs2 = case init:get_argument(ssl_dist_opt) of
                   {ok, SslDistOpts0} ->
                       SslDistOpts1 = [["-ssl_dist_opt" | SslDistOpt]
                                       || SslDistOpt <- SslDistOpts0],
                       SslDistOpts2 = lists:concat(SslDistOpts1),
-                      SslDistOpts2 ++ VMArgs;
+                      SslDistOpts2 ++ VMArgs1;
                   _ ->
-                      VMArgs
+                      VMArgs1
               end,
     %% In the next case, RabbitMQ has been configured with additional Erlang VM
     %% arguments such as this:
@@ -526,13 +511,13 @@ maybe_add_tls_arguments(VMArgs) ->
     %%
     %% This code adds the `ssl_dist_optfile' argument to the peer node's
     %% argument list.
-    VMArgs2 = case init:get_argument(ssl_dist_optfile) of
+    VMArgs3 = case init:get_argument(ssl_dist_optfile) of
                   {ok, [[SslDistOptfileArg]]} ->
-                      ["-ssl_dist_optfile", SslDistOptfileArg | VMArgs1];
+                      ["-ssl_dist_optfile", SslDistOptfileArg | VMArgs2];
                   _ ->
-                      VMArgs1
+                      VMArgs2
               end,
-    VMArgs2.
+    VMArgs3.
 
 do_query_node_props(Nodes) when Nodes =/= [] ->
     %% Make sure all log messages are forwarded from this temporary hidden