diff --git a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Core/ACL.php b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Core/ACL.php
index e36f11a00..8241e1daa 100644
--- a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Core/ACL.php
+++ b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Core/ACL.php
@@ -112,8 +112,9 @@ class ACL
                         if (isset($ACLnode->name)) {
                             $aclPayload = array();
                             $aclPayload['name'] = (string)$ACLnode->name;
-                            if (isset($ACLnode->desc)) {
-                                $aclPayload['desc'] = (string)$ACLnode->desc;
+                            if (isset($ACLnode->description)) {
+                                // rename internal tag for backward compat.
+                                $aclPayload['desc'] = (string)$ACLnode->description;
                             }
                             if (isset($ACLnode->patterns->pattern)) {
                                 // rename pattern to match for internal usage, old code did use match and