diff --git a/arakava-news/scripts/wp-mirror-sync.sh b/arakava-news/scripts/wp-mirror-sync.sh
index f08d87614..74cae6f4e 100755
--- a/arakava-news/scripts/wp-mirror-sync.sh
+++ b/arakava-news/scripts/wp-mirror-sync.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # CT101 impact: read-only mysqldump (--single-transaction) + read-only tar. No restarts.
 # Logs: Host /var/log/wp-mirror-sync.log + CT600 /var/log/wp-mirror-sync.log → Loki (Promtail)
 set -euo pipefail
+export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
 
 HETZNER_HOST="${HETZNER_HOST:-root@100.88.230.59}"
 HETZNER_CT="${HETZNER_CT:-101}"
@@ -107,7 +108,10 @@ mv "${DB_FILE}.tmp" "$DB_FILE"
 log "DB dump size: $(du -h "$DB_FILE" | awk '{print $1}')"
 
 log "File sync via tar (read-only, ~5–8 min)..."
-tar_sync_files
+if ! tar_sync_files; then
+  log "ABORT: file sync via tar failed"
+  exit 1
+fi
 log "Files staged: $(du -sh "${STAGING}/wpfiles" | awk '{print $1}')"
 
 for _ in $(seq 1 45); do