1. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory element comprising instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the apparatus to: receive a request to update a particular object based on a modified object, wherein the particular object is one of a number of objects in a shared database, and wherein the request includes an identification of one or more referenced objects and version information of the one or more referenced objects; and determine whether any one of the referenced objects is stale based on the version information, wherein the particular object is not updated if any one of the referenced objects is stale.