diff --git a/docs/reference/migration/migrate_8_0/settings.asciidoc b/docs/reference/migration/migrate_8_0/settings.asciidoc
index 0c21ae4021aa7..4eac119538dd7 100644
--- a/docs/reference/migration/migrate_8_0/settings.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/migration/migrate_8_0/settings.asciidoc
@@ -11,3 +11,13 @@ provided automatic upgrading of these settings to their `cluster.remote`
 counterparts. In 8.0.0, these settings have been removed. Elasticsearch will
 refuse to start if you have these settings in your configuration or cluster
 state.
+
+[float]
+==== `processors` can no longer exceed the available number of processors
+
+Previously it was possible to set the number of processors used to set the
+default sizes for the thread pools to be more than the number of available
+processors. As this leads to more context switches and more threads but without
+an increase in the number of physical CPUs on which to schedule these additional
+threads, the `processors` setting is now bounded by the number of available
+processors.
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutors.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutors.java
index 561a820d49078..1623ffdf82565 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutors.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutors.java
@@ -19,10 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent;
 
-import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.SuppressForbidden;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting.Property;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -48,26 +46,14 @@
 
 public class EsExecutors {
 
-    private static final DeprecationLogger deprecationLogger = new DeprecationLogger(LogManager.getLogger(EsExecutors.class));
-
     /**
      * Setting to manually set the number of available processors. This setting is used to adjust thread pool sizes per node.
      */
-    public static final Setting<Integer> PROCESSORS_SETTING = new Setting<>(
+    public static final Setting<Integer> PROCESSORS_SETTING = Setting.intSetting(
         "processors",
-        s -> Integer.toString(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors()),
-        s -> {
-            final int value = Setting.parseInt(s, 1, "processors");
-            final int availableProcessors = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
-            if (value > availableProcessors) {
-                deprecationLogger.deprecatedAndMaybeLog(
-                    "processors",
-                    "setting processors to value [{}] which is more than available processors [{}] is deprecated",
-                    value,
-                    availableProcessors);
-            }
-            return value;
-        },
+        Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors(),
+        1,
+        Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors(),
         Property.NodeScope);
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutorsTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutorsTests.java
index 0f0350c48210c..6a64a93227747 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutorsTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/EsExecutorsTests.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.anyOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasToString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThan;
 
 /**
@@ -388,4 +389,15 @@ public void testGetTasks() throws InterruptedException {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testProcessorsBound() {
+        final int available = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
+        final int processors = randomIntBetween(available + 1, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+        final Settings settings = Settings.builder().put("processors", processors).build();
+        final IllegalArgumentException e =
+            expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> EsExecutors.PROCESSORS_SETTING.get(settings));
+        assertThat(
+            e,
+            hasToString(containsString("Failed to parse value [" + processors + "] for setting [processors] must be <= " + available)));
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ScalingThreadPoolTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ScalingThreadPoolTests.java
index d4e6f3693b712..097d856f06289 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ScalingThreadPoolTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ScalingThreadPoolTests.java
@@ -48,18 +48,8 @@ public void testScalingThreadPoolConfiguration() throws InterruptedException {
             core = "generic".equals(threadPoolName) ? 4 : 1; // the defaults
         }
 
-        final int availableProcessors = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
-        final int maxBasedOnNumberOfProcessors;
-        final int processorsUsed;
-        if (randomBoolean()) {
-            final int processors = randomIntBetween(1, 64);
-            maxBasedOnNumberOfProcessors = expectedSize(threadPoolName, processors);
-            builder.put("processors", processors);
-            processorsUsed = processors;
-        } else {
-            maxBasedOnNumberOfProcessors = expectedSize(threadPoolName, availableProcessors);
-            processorsUsed = availableProcessors;
-        }
+        final int processors = randomIntBetween(1, Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors());
+        final int maxBasedOnNumberOfProcessors = expectedSize(threadPoolName, processors);
 
         final int expectedMax;
         if (maxBasedOnNumberOfProcessors < core || randomBoolean()) {
@@ -98,10 +88,6 @@ public void testScalingThreadPoolConfiguration() throws InterruptedException {
             assertThat(esThreadPoolExecutor.getMaximumPoolSize(), equalTo(expectedMax));
         });
 
-        if (processorsUsed > availableProcessors) {
-            assertWarnings("setting processors to value [" + processorsUsed +
-                "] which is more than available processors [" + availableProcessors + "] is deprecated");
-        }
     }
 
     private int expectedSize(final String threadPoolName, final int numberOfProcessors) {