diff --git a/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c b/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c
index 19308c468c06..42dcb4106e02 100644
--- a/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c
+++ b/sys/netpfil/pf/pf_ioctl.c
@@ -3103,24 +3103,24 @@ pfioctl(struct cdev *dev, u_long cmd, caddr_t addr, int flags, struct thread *td
 			break;
 		}
 
-		PF_RULES_WLOCK();
+		PF_RULES_RLOCK();
 		n = pfr_table_count(&io->pfrio_table, io->pfrio_flags);
 		io->pfrio_size = min(io->pfrio_size, n);
+		PF_RULES_RUNLOCK();
 
 		totlen = io->pfrio_size * sizeof(struct pfr_table);
 		pfrts = mallocarray(io->pfrio_size, sizeof(struct pfr_table),
 		    M_TEMP, M_NOWAIT);
 		if (pfrts == NULL) {
 			error = ENOMEM;
-			PF_RULES_WUNLOCK();
 			break;
 		}
 		error = copyin(io->pfrio_buffer, pfrts, totlen);
 		if (error) {
 			free(pfrts, M_TEMP);
-			PF_RULES_WUNLOCK();
 			break;
 		}
+		PF_RULES_WLOCK();
 		error = pfr_set_tflags(pfrts, io->pfrio_size,
 		    io->pfrio_setflag, io->pfrio_clrflag, &io->pfrio_nchange,
 		    &io->pfrio_ndel, io->pfrio_flags | PFR_FLAG_USERIOCTL);