diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/github/thetric/iliasdownloader/cli/sync/ItemDownloadingItemVisitor.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/github/thetric/iliasdownloader/cli/sync/ItemDownloadingItemVisitor.kt
index b9f2fb8..ab3950d 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/github/thetric/iliasdownloader/cli/sync/ItemDownloadingItemVisitor.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/github/thetric/iliasdownloader/cli/sync/ItemDownloadingItemVisitor.kt
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import com.github.thetric.iliasdownloader.service.IliasService
 import com.github.thetric.iliasdownloader.service.model.CourseFile
 import com.github.thetric.iliasdownloader.service.model.CourseFolder
 import com.github.thetric.iliasdownloader.service.model.IliasItem
+import com.github.thetric.iliasdownloader.service.webparser.impl.IliasHttpException
 import mu.KotlinLogging
 import java.io.File
 import java.nio.file.Files
@@ -79,10 +80,31 @@ class ItemDownloadingItemVisitor(
     }
 
     private fun syncAndSaveFile(path: Path, file: CourseFile) {
-        iliasService.getContentAsStream(file).use {
-            Files.copy(it, path, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING)
+        try {
+            iliasService.getContentAsStream(file).use {
+                Files.copy(it, path, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING)
+            }
+            Files.setLastModifiedTime(path, toFileTime(file.modified))
+        } catch (e: IliasHttpException) {
+            // skip downloads with an unexpected HTTP status code (not 2xx).
+            // in some rare cases (see issue #11) the webdav interface can
+            // throw a 403 forbidden when accessing a file, although the user
+            // can download the file via the 'normal' web interface.
+            // other files in the course don't seem affected and can be
+            // downloaded.
+            log.error {
+                getLocalizedMessage(
+                    "sync.download.failed",
+                    e.url,
+                    e.statusCode,
+                    file.name
+                )
+            }
+            log.trace(
+                e,
+                { "Download of ${e.url} failed with HTTP status code ${e.statusCode}" }
+            )
         }
-        Files.setLastModifiedTime(path, toFileTime(file.modified))
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/ilias-cli.properties b/src/main/resources/ilias-cli.properties
index 19d460f..fcf165a 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/ilias-cli.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/ilias-cli.properties
@@ -17,5 +17,8 @@ sync.courses.prompt=Enter the numbers of the courses to sync (separate by a spac
 sync.courses.prompt.errors.out-of-range=Invalid course selection! The selection must contain indices between 1 and {0}
 sync.download.file.started=Downloading file "{0}" ({1,number,integer} bytes)...
 sync.download.file.finished=Saved to {0}
+sync.download.started=
+sync.download.finished=
 sync.download.file.found=Found file "{0}"
 sync.course.found=Found course "{0}"
+sync.download.failed=Failed to download {0} (HTTP status code {1,number,integer}). Skipping "{2}" in this sync.
diff --git a/src/main/resources/ilias-cli_de.properties b/src/main/resources/ilias-cli_de.properties
index c2884be..321d358 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/ilias-cli_de.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/ilias-cli_de.properties
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@ sync.download.started=Lade Datei "{0}" ({1,number,integer} Bytes) herunter...
 sync.download.finished=Gespeichert unter {0}
 sync.download.file.found=Datei "{0}" gefunden
 sync.course.found=Kurs "{0}" gefunden
+sync.download.failed=Download von {0} fehlgeschlagen (HTTP status code {1,number,integer}). "{2}" wird bei diesem Sync übersprungen.