diff --git a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbDEFImporter.cc b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbDEFImporter.cc
index 87c25cfe2..79b23e5a3 100644
--- a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbDEFImporter.cc
+++ b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbDEFImporter.cc
@@ -730,19 +730,30 @@ DEFImporter::read_nets (db::Layout &layout, db::Cell &design, double scale, bool
       } else {
 
         bool prefixed = false;
-        bool can_have_rect_or_polygon = true;
+        bool can_have_rect_polygon_or_via = true;
 
         if ((was_shield = test ("SHIELD")) == true || test ("NOSHIELD") || test ("ROUTED") || test ("FIXED") || test ("COVER")) {
           if (was_shield) {
             take ();
           }
           prefixed = true;
-          can_have_rect_or_polygon = test ("+");
+          can_have_rect_polygon_or_via = test ("+");
         }
 
         bool any = false;
 
-        if (can_have_rect_or_polygon && test ("POLYGON")) {
+        if (can_have_rect_polygon_or_via) {
+          if (test ("SHAPE")) {
+            take ();
+            test ("+");
+          }
+          if (test ("MASK")) {
+            get_long ();
+            test ("+");
+          }
+        }
+
+        if (can_have_rect_polygon_or_via && test ("POLYGON")) {
 
           std::string ln = get ();
 
@@ -760,7 +771,7 @@ DEFImporter::read_nets (db::Layout &layout, db::Cell &design, double scale, bool
 
           any = true;
 
-        } else if (can_have_rect_or_polygon && test ("RECT")) {
+        } else if (can_have_rect_polygon_or_via && test ("RECT")) {
 
           std::string ln = get ();
 
@@ -778,6 +789,24 @@ DEFImporter::read_nets (db::Layout &layout, db::Cell &design, double scale, bool
 
           any = true;
 
+        } else if (can_have_rect_polygon_or_via && test ("VIA")) {
+
+          std::string vn = get ();
+          db::FTrans ft = get_orient (true /*optional*/);
+
+          test ("(");
+          db::Vector pt = get_vector (scale);
+          test (")");
+
+          std::map<std::string, ViaDesc>::const_iterator vd = m_via_desc.find (vn);
+          if (vd != m_via_desc.end ()) {
+            design.insert (db::CellInstArray (db::CellInst (vd->second.cell->cell_index ()), db::Trans (ft.rot (), pt)));
+          } else {
+            error (tl::to_string (tr ("Invalid via name: ")) + vn);
+          }
+
+          any = true;
+
         } else if (prefixed) {
 
           read_single_net (nondefaultrule, layout, design, scale, prop_id, specialnets);
diff --git a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
index 827377a2a..a2de90a2a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
+++ b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
@@ -131,7 +131,15 @@ static void run_test (tl::TestBase *_this, const char *lef_dir, const char *file
 
   //  normalize the layout by writing to OASIS and reading from ..
 
-  std::string tmp_file = _this->tmp_file ("tmp.oas");
+  //  generate a "unique" name ...
+  unsigned int hash = 0;
+  if (au) {
+    for (const char *cp = au; *cp; ++cp) {
+      hash = (hash << 4) ^ (hash >> 4) ^ ((unsigned int) *cp);
+    }
+  }
+
+  std::string tmp_file = _this->tmp_file (tl::sprintf ("tmp_%x.oas", hash));
 
   {
     tl::OutputStream stream (tmp_file);
diff --git a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au.oas.gz b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au.oas.gz
index cffe30103..dced1c01d 100644
Binary files a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au.oas.gz and b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au.oas.gz differ
diff --git a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_no_spnet.oas.gz b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_no_spnet.oas.gz
index 4bf45b031..021f51106 100644
Binary files a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_no_spnet.oas.gz and b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_no_spnet.oas.gz differ
diff --git a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_spnet_mapped.oas.gz b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_spnet_mapped.oas.gz
index 7decf1260..70d7ce494 100644
Binary files a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_spnet_mapped.oas.gz and b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/au_spnet_mapped.oas.gz differ
diff --git a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/test.def b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/test.def
index b9b3e39c8..b104eb328 100644
--- a/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/test.def
+++ b/testdata/lefdef/specialnets_geo/test.def
@@ -16,12 +16,14 @@ VIAS 1 ;
 END VIAS
 SPECIALNETS 1 ;
 - dummy
-  + ROUTED + RECT M2 ( 350 0 ) ( 200 100 )
+  + ROUTED + RECT M2 ( 350 0 ) ( 250 100 )
   + POLYGON M1 ( 300 0 ) ( 300 50 ) ( 350 50 ) ( 400 100 ) ( 400 0 )
   + ROUTED + POLYGON M2 ( 300 150 ) ( 300 200 ) ( 350 200 ) ( 400 250 ) ( 400 150 )
   + RECT M1 ( 0 0 ) ( 100 200 )
-  + ROUTED M1 30 ( 0 0 15 ) ( 100 0 0 ) VIA1_dummy ( 100 100 10 )
+  + ROUTED M1 30 + MASK 2 ( 0 0 15 ) ( 100 0 0 ) VIA1_dummy ( 100 100 10 )
   + ROUTED M2 50 + SHAPE RING + STYLE 1 ( 0 100 ) ( 100 200 ) ( 200 200 )
+  + ROUTED + MASK 2 + RECT M2 ( 250 0 ) ( 150 100 )
+  + ROUTED + SHAPE RING + MASK 1 + VIA VIA1_dummy E ( 200 200 ) 
 ;
 END SPECIALNETS
 END DESIGN