diff --git a/gradle/changelog/npe_on_export.yaml b/gradle/changelog/npe_on_export.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..07a2e0db6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradle/changelog/npe_on_export.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- type: fixed
+  description: NPE on synchronous repository export ([#2040](https://github.com/scm-manager/scm-manager/pull/2040))
diff --git a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java
index 9ea9d0e3ed..5115ae4487 100644
--- a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java
+++ b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java
@@ -457,8 +457,6 @@ public class RepositoryExportResource {
       return Response.status(204).build();
     } else {
       StreamingOutput output = os -> fullScmRepositoryExporter.export(repository, os, password);
-      exportService.setExportFinished(repository);
-
       return Response
         .ok(output, "application/x-gzip")
         .header("content-disposition", createContentDispositionHeaderValue(repository, fileExtension))