https://bugzilla.netfilter.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1351 nft -f <<EOF flush ruleset table inet filter { } table inet filter { chain test { counter } } EOF segfaults during error reporting. First patch makes error handling more robust. Second patch passes the right handle -- with above ruleset this highlights "chain test" in the resulting error message. Last patch skips rule cache updates for invalid op to restore the 0.9.0 behaviour.