diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
index c211a5b6b1..f0500e1b5f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
@@ -758,9 +758,14 @@ class TaskExecutor:
         Returns the correct action plugin to handle the requestion task action
         '''
 
+        network_group_modules = frozenset(['eos', 'nxos', 'ios', 'iosxr', 'junos', 'vyos'])
+        module_prefix = self._task.action.split('_')[0]
+
         # let action plugin override module, fallback to 'normal' action plugin otherwise
         if self._task.action in self._shared_loader_obj.action_loader:
             handler_name = self._task.action
+        elif all((module_prefix in network_group_modules, module_prefix in self._shared_loader_obj.action_loader)):
+            handler_name = module_prefix
         else:
             pc_conn = self._shared_loader_obj.connection_loader.get(self._play_context.connection, class_only=True)
             handler_name = getattr(pc_conn, 'action_handler', 'normal')