diff --git a/tools/net/ynl/lib/nlspec.py b/tools/net/ynl/lib/nlspec.py
index 7c1cf6c1499e1157532f704162548e8251b639af..a34d088f67432187c0d5b0e457788081d1ba5f95 100644
--- a/tools/net/ynl/lib/nlspec.py
+++ b/tools/net/ynl/lib/nlspec.py
@@ -104,8 +104,9 @@ class SpecEnumSet(SpecElement):
     as declared in the "definitions" section of the spec.
 
     Attributes:
-        type          enum or flags
-        entries       entries by name
+        type            enum or flags
+        entries         entries by name
+        entries_by_val  entries by value
     Methods:
         get_mask      for flags compute the mask of all defined values
     """
@@ -117,9 +118,11 @@ class SpecEnumSet(SpecElement):
         prev_entry = None
         value_start = self.yaml.get('value-start', 0)
         self.entries = dict()
+        self.entries_by_val = dict()
         for entry in self.yaml['entries']:
             e = self.new_entry(entry, prev_entry, value_start)
             self.entries[e.name] = e
+            self.entries_by_val[e.raw_value()] = e
             prev_entry = e
 
     def new_entry(self, entry, prev_entry, value_start):
diff --git a/tools/net/ynl/lib/ynl.py b/tools/net/ynl/lib/ynl.py
index a842adc8e87e3b35259db0fb4dae9d77927f3423..90764a83c6461118d6dd9aeff19d16224bf87f9a 100644
--- a/tools/net/ynl/lib/ynl.py
+++ b/tools/net/ynl/lib/ynl.py
@@ -303,11 +303,6 @@ class YnlFamily(SpecFamily):
         self.sock.setsockopt(Netlink.SOL_NETLINK, Netlink.NETLINK_CAP_ACK, 1)
         self.sock.setsockopt(Netlink.SOL_NETLINK, Netlink.NETLINK_EXT_ACK, 1)
 
-        self._types = dict()
-
-        for elem in self.yaml.get('definitions', []):
-            self._types[elem['name']] = elem
-
         self.async_msg_ids = set()
         self.async_msg_queue = []
 
@@ -353,13 +348,13 @@ class YnlFamily(SpecFamily):
 
     def _decode_enum(self, rsp, attr_spec):
         raw = rsp[attr_spec['name']]
-        enum = self._types[attr_spec['enum']]
+        enum = self.consts[attr_spec['enum']]
         i = attr_spec.get('value-start', 0)
         if 'enum-as-flags' in attr_spec and attr_spec['enum-as-flags']:
             value = set()
             while raw:
                 if raw & 1:
-                    value.add(enum['entries'][i])
+                    value.add(enum.entries_by_val[i].name)
                 raw >>= 1
                 i += 1
         else: