diff --git a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Base/BaseModel.php b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Base/BaseModel.php
index 9de21cd3eb..21d9674871 100644
--- a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Base/BaseModel.php
+++ b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/Base/BaseModel.php
@@ -752,7 +752,15 @@ abstract class BaseModel
              * e.g. /system/user should place new entries at /system
              **/
             $pxpath = implode("/", array_slice(explode("/", $xpath), 0, -1));
-            $toDom = dom_import_simplexml($target_node->xpath($pxpath)[0]);
+            $target = $target_node->xpath($pxpath);
+            if (empty($target)) {
+                /* target doesn't exist yet, create the root node by traversing the tree (starting inside /opnsense) */
+                $target = $target_node;
+                foreach (array_slice(explode("/", trim($xpath, "/")), 1, -1) as $p) {
+                    $target = count($target_node->xpath($p)) == 0 ? $target->addChild($p) : $target->xpath($p)[0];
+                }
+            }
+            $toDom = dom_import_simplexml($target[0]);
             foreach ($newNodes as $node) {
                 if ($node !== null) {
                     $toDom->appendChild($toDom->ownerDocument->importNode($node, true));