diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/binary_distribution.py b/lib/spack/spack/binary_distribution.py
index e9bcd432953..ff1330487e1 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/binary_distribution.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/binary_distribution.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 import spack.util.web as web_util
 from spack import traverse
 from spack.caches import misc_cache_location
-from spack.mirrors.utils import MirrorSpecFilter
+from spack.mirrors.filter import MirrorSpecFilter
 from spack.oci.image import (
     Digest,
     ImageReference,
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/filter.py b/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/filter.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8ffb9ebe87a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/filter.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Copyright Spack Project Developers. See COPYRIGHT file for details.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
+from typing import List
+
+import spack.spec
+from spack.mirrors.mirror import Mirror
+
+
+class MirrorSpecFilter:
+    def __init__(self, mirror: Mirror):
+        self.exclude = [spack.spec.Spec(spec) for spec in mirror.exclusions]
+        self.include = [spack.spec.Spec(spec) for spec in mirror.inclusions]
+
+    def __call__(self, specs: List[spack.spec.Spec]):
+        """
+        Determine the intersection of include/exclude filters
+        Tie goes to keeping
+
+        skip  | keep  | outcome
+        ------------------------
+        False | False | Keep
+        True  | True  | Keep
+        False | True  | Keep
+        True  | False | Skip
+        """
+        filter = []
+        filtrate = []
+        for spec in specs:
+            skip = any([spec.satisfies(test) for test in self.exclude])
+            keep = any([spec.satisfies(test) for test in self.include])
+
+            if skip and not keep:
+                filtrate.append(spec)
+            else:
+                filter.append(spec)
+
+        return filter, filtrate
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/utils.py b/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/utils.py
index 86fafff7983..7e3a62b0513 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/utils.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/mirrors/utils.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 import os
 import traceback
-from typing import List
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 from llnl.util.filesystem import mkdirp
@@ -255,34 +254,3 @@ def require_mirror_name(mirror_name):
     if not mirror:
         raise ValueError(f'no mirror named "{mirror_name}"')
     return mirror
-
-
-class MirrorSpecFilter:
-    def __init__(self, mirror: Mirror):
-        self.exclude = [spack.spec.Spec(spec) for spec in mirror.exclusions]
-        self.include = [spack.spec.Spec(spec) for spec in mirror.inclusions]
-
-    def __call__(self, specs: List[spack.spec.Spec]):
-        """
-        Determine the intersection of include/exclude filters
-        Tie goes to keeping
-
-        skip  | keep  | outcome
-        ------------------------
-        False | False | Keep
-        True  | True  | Keep
-        False | True  | Keep
-        True  | False | Skip
-        """
-        filter = []
-        filtrate = []
-        for spec in specs:
-            skip = any([spec.satisfies(test) for test in self.exclude])
-            keep = any([spec.satisfies(test) for test in self.include])
-
-            if skip and not keep:
-                filtrate.append(spec)
-            else:
-                filter.append(spec)
-
-        return filter, filtrate
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py
index 4efede7c963..b9836ab8d3b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/mirror.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import spack.util.spack_json as sjson
 import spack.util.url as url_util
 from spack.cmd.common.arguments import mirror_name_or_url
+from spack.mirrors.filter import MirrorSpecFilter
 from spack.spec import Spec
 from spack.util.executable import which
 from spack.util.spack_yaml import SpackYAMLError
@@ -473,7 +474,7 @@ def test_filter_specs(include, exclude, gold):
     input_specs = [spack.spec.Spec(s) for s in INPUT_SPEC_STRS]
     data = {"include": include, "exclude": exclude}
     m = spack.mirrors.mirror.Mirror(data)
-    filter = spack.mirrors.utils.MirrorSpecFilter(m)
+    filter = MirrorSpecFilter(m)
 
     filtered, filtrate = filter(input_specs)