diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c b/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
index d7a628e2c249..07bcf9b7d779 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
@@ -7239,9 +7239,7 @@ static int nf_tables_updobj(const struct nft_ctx *ctx,
 	struct nft_trans *trans;
 	int err = -ENOMEM;
 
-	if (!try_module_get(type->owner))
-		return -ENOENT;
-
+	/* caller must have obtained type->owner reference. */
 	trans = nft_trans_alloc(ctx, NFT_MSG_NEWOBJ,
 				sizeof(struct nft_trans_obj));
 	if (!trans)
@@ -7309,15 +7307,16 @@ static int nf_tables_newobj(struct sk_buff *skb, const struct nfnl_info *info,
 		if (info->nlh->nlmsg_flags & NLM_F_REPLACE)
 			return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 
-		type = __nft_obj_type_get(objtype, family);
-		if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!type))
-			return -ENOENT;
-
 		if (!obj->ops->update)
 			return 0;
 
+		type = nft_obj_type_get(net, objtype, family);
+		if (WARN_ON_ONCE(IS_ERR(type)))
+			return PTR_ERR(type);
+
 		nft_ctx_init(&ctx, net, skb, info->nlh, family, table, NULL, nla);
 
+		/* type->owner reference is put when transaction object is released. */
 		return nf_tables_updobj(&ctx, type, nla[NFTA_OBJ_DATA], obj);
 	}