diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 # should match https://pypi.python.org/pypi names. For the full spec or
 # dependency lines, see https://pip.readthedocs.org/en/1.1/requirements.html
 
+tenacity
diff --git a/swh/loader/cvs/loader.py b/swh/loader/cvs/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/cvs/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/cvs/loader.py
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
 import time
 from typing import Any, BinaryIO, Dict, Iterator, List, Optional, Sequence, Tuple, cast
 
+from tenacity import retry
+from tenacity.retry import retry_if_exception_type
+from tenacity.stop import stop_after_attempt
 from urllib3.util import parse_url
 
 from swh.loader.core.loader import BaseLoader
@@ -54,6 +57,14 @@
 TEMPORARY_DIR_PREFIX_PATTERN = "swh.loader.cvs."
 
 
+def rsync_retry():
+    return retry(
+        retry=retry_if_exception_type(subprocess.CalledProcessError),
+        stop=stop_after_attempt(max_attempt_number=4),
+        reraise=True,
+    )
+
+
 class BadPathException(Exception):
     pass
 
@@ -337,11 +348,20 @@
                 for k in excluded_keywords:
                     self.excluded_keywords.append(k.strip())
 
+    @rsync_retry()
+    def execute_rsync(
+        self, rsync_cmd: List[str], **run_opts
+    ) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess:
+        rsync = subprocess.run(rsync_cmd, **run_opts)
+        rsync.check_returncode()
+        return rsync
+
     def fetch_cvs_repo_with_rsync(self, host: str, path: str) -> None:
         # URL *must* end with a trailing slash in order to get CVSROOT listed
         url = "rsync://%s%s/" % (host, os.path.dirname(path))
-        rsync = subprocess.run(["rsync", url], capture_output=True, encoding="ascii")
-        rsync.check_returncode()
+        rsync = self.execute_rsync(
+            ["rsync", url], capture_output=True, encoding="ascii"
+        )
         have_cvsroot = False
         have_module = False
         for line in rsync.stdout.split("\n"):
@@ -362,12 +382,12 @@
         for d in ("CVSROOT", self.cvs_module_name):
             target_dir = os.path.join(self.cvsroot_path, d)
             os.makedirs(target_dir, exist_ok=True)
-            subprocess.run(
-                # Append trailing path separators ("/" in the URL and os.path.sep in the
-                # local target directory path) to ensure that rsync will place files
-                # directly within our target directory .
-                ["rsync", "-a", url + d + "/", target_dir + os.path.sep]
-            ).check_returncode()
+            # Append trailing path separators ("/" in the URL and os.path.sep in the
+            # local target directory path) to ensure that rsync will place files
+            # directly within our target directory .
+            self.execute_rsync(
+                ["rsync", "-az", url + d + "/", target_dir + os.path.sep]
+            )
 
     def prepare(self) -> None:
         self._last_revision = None
diff --git a/swh/loader/cvs/tests/test_loader.py b/swh/loader/cvs/tests/test_loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/cvs/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/cvs/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 import os
+import subprocess
 import tempfile
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
@@ -1178,3 +1179,60 @@
 
     rlog_file_override.close()
     os.unlink(rlog_file_path)
+
+
+def test_loader_rsync_retry(swh_storage, mocker, tmp_path):
+    module_name = "module"
+    host = "example.org"
+    path = f"/cvsroot/{module_name}"
+    repo_url = f"rsync://{host}{path}/"
+
+    rsync_first_call = ["rsync", repo_url]
+    rsync_second_call = [
+        "rsync",
+        "-az",
+        f"{repo_url}CVSROOT/",
+        os.path.join(tmp_path, "CVSROOT/"),
+    ]
+    rsync_third_call = [
+        "rsync",
+        "-az",
+        f"{repo_url}{module_name}/",
+        os.path.join(tmp_path, f"{module_name}/"),
+    ]
+
+    mock_subprocess = mocker.patch("swh.loader.cvs.loader.subprocess")
+    mock_subprocess.run.side_effect = [
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(args=rsync_first_call, returncode=23),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(
+            args=rsync_first_call,
+            returncode=0,
+            stdout=f"""
+            drwxr-xr-x             21 2012/11/04 06:58:58 .
+            drwxr-xr-x             39 2021/01/22 10:21:05 CVSROOT
+            drwxr-xr-x             15 2020/12/28 00:50:21 {module_name}""",
+        ),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(
+            args=rsync_second_call,
+            returncode=23,
+        ),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(
+            args=rsync_second_call,
+            returncode=23,
+        ),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(args=rsync_second_call, returncode=0),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(
+            args=rsync_third_call,
+            returncode=23,
+        ),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(
+            args=rsync_third_call,
+            returncode=23,
+        ),
+        subprocess.CompletedProcess(args=rsync_third_call, returncode=0),
+    ]
+
+    loader = CvsLoader(swh_storage, repo_url)
+    loader.cvs_module_name = module_name
+    loader.cvsroot_path = tmp_path
+    loader.fetch_cvs_repo_with_rsync(host, path)