diff --git a/conn.go b/conn.go
index fef9c2a..d4759b1 100644
--- a/conn.go
+++ b/conn.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package nftables
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"math"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
 	"syscall"
@@ -38,12 +39,14 @@ type Conn struct {
 	TestDial nltest.Func // for testing only; passed to nltest.Dial
 	NetNS    int         // fd referencing the network namespace netlink will interact with.
 
-	lasting     bool       // establish a lasting connection to be used across multiple netlink operations.
-	mu          sync.Mutex // protects the following state
-	messages    []netlink.Message
-	err         error
-	nlconn      *netlink.Conn // netlink socket using NETLINK_NETFILTER protocol.
-	sockOptions []SockOption
+	lasting      bool       // establish a lasting connection to be used across multiple netlink operations.
+	mu           sync.Mutex // protects the following state
+	messages     []netlink.Message
+	err          error
+	nlconn       *netlink.Conn // netlink socket using NETLINK_NETFILTER protocol.
+	sockOptions  []SockOption
+	lastID       uint32
+	allocatedIDs uint32
 }
 
 // ConnOption is an option to change the behavior of the nftables Conn returned by Open.
@@ -244,6 +247,7 @@ func (cc *Conn) Flush() error {
 	cc.mu.Lock()
 	defer func() {
 		cc.messages = nil
+		cc.allocatedIDs = 0
 		cc.mu.Unlock()
 	}()
 	if len(cc.messages) == 0 {
@@ -369,3 +373,20 @@ func batch(messages []netlink.Message) []netlink.Message {
 
 	return batch
 }
+
+// allocateTransactionID allocates an identifier which is only valid in the
+// current transaction.
+func (cc *Conn) allocateTransactionID() uint32 {
+	if cc.allocatedIDs == math.MaxUint32 {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("trying to allocate more than %d IDs in a single nftables transaction", math.MaxUint32))
+	}
+	// To make it more likely to catch when a transaction ID is erroneously used
+	// in a later transaction, cc.lastID is not reset after each transaction;
+	// instead it is only reset once it rolls over from math.MaxUint32 to 0.
+	cc.allocatedIDs++
+	cc.lastID++
+	if cc.lastID == 0 {
+		cc.lastID = 1
+	}
+	return cc.lastID
+}
diff --git a/set.go b/set.go
index cccdcba..431191e 100644
--- a/set.go
+++ b/set.go
@@ -46,8 +46,6 @@ const (
 	NFTA_SET_ELEM_EXPRESSIONS = 0x11
 )
 
-var allocSetID uint32
-
 // SetDatatype represents a datatype declared by nft.
 type SetDatatype struct {
 	Name  string
@@ -532,8 +530,7 @@ func (cc *Conn) AddSet(s *Set, vals []SetElement) error {
 	}
 
 	if s.ID == 0 {
-		allocSetID++
-		s.ID = allocSetID
+		s.ID = cc.allocateTransactionID()
 		if s.Anonymous {
 			s.Name = "__set%d"
 			if s.IsMap {