diff --git a/changelog/11043.improvement.rst b/changelog/11043.improvement.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3371feee77f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/11043.improvement.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+In cases when `--confcutdir` is not specified, and there is no config file present, the conftest cutoff directory (confcutdir) is now set to the :ref:`rootdir`.
+Previously in such cases, conftest.py files will be probed all the way to the root directory of the filesystem.
+If you are badly affected by this change, consider adding an empty config file to your desired cutoff directory, or explicitly set `--confcutdir`.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
index 6df06f7b281..c62be613523 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
@@ -1261,8 +1261,11 @@ def _preparse(self, args: List[str], addopts: bool = True) -> None:
                 _pytest.deprecated.STRICT_OPTION, stacklevel=2
             )
 
-        if self.known_args_namespace.confcutdir is None and self.inipath is not None:
-            confcutdir = str(self.inipath.parent)
+        if self.known_args_namespace.confcutdir is None:
+            if self.inipath is not None:
+                confcutdir = str(self.inipath.parent)
+            else:
+                confcutdir = str(self.rootpath)
             self.known_args_namespace.confcutdir = confcutdir
         try:
             self.hook.pytest_load_initial_conftests(
diff --git a/testing/test_conftest.py b/testing/test_conftest.py
index d6abca5368f..c64bd11d4ed 100644
--- a/testing/test_conftest.py
+++ b/testing/test_conftest.py
@@ -594,7 +594,13 @@ def test_parsefactories_relative_node_ids(
         print("pytestarg        : %s" % testarg)
         print("expected pass    : %s" % expect_ntests_passed)
         os.chdir(dirs[chdir])
-        reprec = pytester.inline_run(testarg, "-q", "--traceconfig")
+        reprec = pytester.inline_run(
+            testarg,
+            "-q",
+            "--traceconfig",
+            "--confcutdir",
+            pytester.path,
+        )
         reprec.assertoutcome(passed=expect_ntests_passed)