diff --git a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Base/ApiMutableModelControllerBase.php b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Base/ApiMutableModelControllerBase.php
index 89299b378..c519d0c49 100644
--- a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Base/ApiMutableModelControllerBase.php
+++ b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Base/ApiMutableModelControllerBase.php
@@ -90,6 +90,83 @@ abstract class ApiMutableModelControllerBase extends ApiControllerBase
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * check if a specific token is in use, either in a list of options (xxx,yyy) or as exact match
+     * @param string $token token to search recursive
+     * @param bool $contains exact match or in list
+     * @param bool $only_mvc only report (versioned) models
+     * @throws UserException containing additional information
+     */
+    protected function checkAndThrowValueInUse($token, $contains=True, $only_mvc=True)
+    {
+        if ($contains) {
+            $xpath = "//text()[contains(.,'{$token}')]";
+        } else {
+            $xpath = "//*[text() = '{$token}']";
+        }
+        $usages = [];
+        // find uuid's in our config.xml
+        foreach (Config::getInstance()->object()->xpath($xpath) as $node) {
+            $referring_node = $node->xpath("..")[0];
+            if (!empty($referring_node->attributes()['uuid'])) {
+                // this looks like a model node, try to find module name (first tag with version attribute)
+                $item_path = array($referring_node->getName());
+                $item_uuid = $referring_node->attributes()['uuid'];
+                $parent_node = $referring_node;
+                do {
+                    $parent_node = $parent_node->xpath("..");
+                    $parent_node = $parent_node != null ? $parent_node[0] : null;
+                    if ($parent_node != null) {
+                        $item_path[] = $parent_node->getName();
+                    }
+                } while ($parent_node != null && !isset($parent_node->attributes()['version']));
+                if ($parent_node != null) {
+                    // construct usage info and add to usages if this looks like a model
+                    $item_path = array_reverse($item_path);
+                    $item_description = "";
+                    foreach (["description", "descr", "name"] as $key) {
+                        if (!empty($referring_node->$key)) {
+                            $item_description = (string)$referring_node->$key;
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    $usages[] = [
+                        "reference" =>  implode(".", $item_path) . "." . $item_uuid,
+                        "module" => $item_path[0],
+                        "description" => $item_description
+                    ];
+                }
+            } elseif (!$only_mvc) {
+                $referring_node = $node->xpath("..")[0];
+                $item_description = "";
+                foreach (["description", "descr", "name"] as $key) {
+                    if (!empty($referring_node->$key)) {
+                        $item_description = (string)$referring_node->$key;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+                $usages[] = [
+                    "reference" =>  $referring_node->getName(),
+                    "module" => $referring_node->getName(),
+                    "description" => $item_description
+                ];
+            }
+        }
+        if (!empty($usages)) {
+            // render exception message
+            $message = "";
+            foreach ($usages as $usage) {
+                $message .= sprintf(
+                    gettext("%s - %s {%s}"),
+                    $usage['module'],
+                    $usage['description'],
+                    $usage['reference']
+                ) . "\n";
+            }
+            throw new UserException($message, gettext("Item in use by"));
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check if item can be safely deleted if $internalModelUseSafeDelete is enabled.
      * Throws a user exception when the $uuid seems to be used in some other config section.
@@ -99,54 +176,7 @@ abstract class ApiMutableModelControllerBase extends ApiControllerBase
     private function checkAndThrowSafeDelete($uuid)
     {
         if (static::$internalModelUseSafeDelete) {
-            $configObj = Config::getInstance()->object();
-            $usages = [];
-            // find uuid's in our config.xml
-            foreach ($configObj->xpath("//text()[contains(.,'{$uuid}')]") as $node) {
-                $referring_node = $node->xpath("..")[0];
-                if (!empty($referring_node->attributes()['uuid'])) {
-                    // this looks like a model node, try to find module name (first tag with version attribute)
-                    $item_path = array($referring_node->getName());
-                    $item_uuid = $referring_node->attributes()['uuid'];
-                    $parent_node = $referring_node;
-                    do {
-                        $parent_node = $parent_node->xpath("..");
-                        $parent_node = $parent_node != null ? $parent_node[0] : null;
-                        if ($parent_node != null) {
-                            $item_path[] = $parent_node->getName();
-                        }
-                    } while ($parent_node != null && !isset($parent_node->attributes()['version']));
-                    if ($parent_node != null) {
-                        // construct usage info and add to usages if this looks like a model
-                        $item_path = array_reverse($item_path);
-                        $item_description = "";
-                        foreach (["description", "descr", "name"] as $key) {
-                            if (!empty($referring_node->$key)) {
-                                $item_description = (string)$referring_node->$key;
-                                break;
-                            }
-                        }
-                        $usages[] = array(
-                            "reference" =>  implode(".", $item_path) . "." . $item_uuid,
-                            "module" => $item_path[0],
-                            "description" => $item_description
-                        );
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            if (!empty($usages)) {
-                // render exception message
-                $message = "";
-                foreach ($usages as $usage) {
-                    $message .= sprintf(
-                        gettext("%s - %s {%s}"),
-                        $usage['module'],
-                        $usage['description'],
-                        $usage['reference']
-                    ) . "\n";
-                }
-                throw new UserException($message, gettext("Item in use by"));
-            }
+            $this->checkAndThrowValueInUse($uuid);
         }
     }