diff --git a/backup/pvc/bin/backup.sh b/backup/pvc/bin/backup.sh
index 40c9f8dd..7e947a1e 100755
--- a/backup/pvc/bin/backup.sh
+++ b/backup/pvc/bin/backup.sh
@@ -22,8 +22,17 @@ done
 
 _log "INFO" "[backup] running backup ${BACKUP_NUMBER}"
 touch "${TRAP_FILE}"
+
+# since at this point we are sure that no other backup process is running, we can clean up stale tmp dirs
+if [[ ! -z "${BACKUP_TMP_PREFIX}" ]]; then
+    find "${BACKUP_DIR}" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -name "${BACKUP_TMP_PREFIX}.*" -type d -exec rm -rf {} +
+else
+    _log "WARNING" "[backup] BACKUP_TMP_PREFIX is empty, refusing to run 'rm -rf'"
+fi
+
+
 # create temp dir on the same filesystem with a BACKUP_DIR to be able use atomic mv enstead of copy
-BACKUP_TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d --tmpdir="${BACKUP_DIR}")
+BACKUP_TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d --tmpdir="${BACKUP_DIR}" "${BACKUP_TMP_PATTERN}")
 
 _clean(){
     test -d "${BACKUP_TMP_DIR}" && rm -fr "${BACKUP_TMP_DIR}"
diff --git a/backup/pvc/bin/utils.sh b/backup/pvc/bin/utils.sh
index 718dfcf1..830af14d 100755
--- a/backup/pvc/bin/utils.sh
+++ b/backup/pvc/bin/utils.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # Common utils
 
+# Explicitly specify default tmp prefix used by mktemp for compatibility
+# see https://www.gnu.org/software/autogen/mktemp.html
+BACKUP_TMP_PREFIX="tmp"
+BACKUP_TMP_PATTERN="$BACKUP_TMP_PREFIX.XXXXXXXXXX"
+
 _log() {
     local level="$1"
     local message="$2"
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/config.xml b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/config.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/jobs/branchjob/branches/master/build b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/jobs/branchjob/branches/master/build
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/jobs/branchjob/branches/master/config.xml b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/jobs/branchjob/branches/master/config.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/jobs/branchjob/config.xml b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/orgjob/jobs/branchjob/config.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/builds/1/build.xml b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/builds/1/build.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5d0bb326
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/builds/1/build.xml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+build.xml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/builds/1/log b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/builds/1/log
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7f236fe6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/builds/1/log
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+build logs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/config.xml b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/config.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/nextBuildNumber b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/nextBuildNumber
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d8263ee9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/jenkins_home/jobs/some-job/nextBuildNumber
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/test.sh b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1705e301
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backup/pvc/e2e/stale_tmp_dir_cleanup/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -eo pipefail
+
+echo "Running stale_tmp_dir_cleanup e2e test..."
+
+[[ "${DEBUG}" ]] && set -x
+
+# set current working directory to the directory of the script
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+
+docker_image=$1
+
+if ! docker inspect ${docker_image} &> /dev/null; then
+    echo "Image '${docker_image}' does not exists"
+    false
+fi
+
+JENKINS_HOME="$(pwd)/jenkins_home"
+BACKUP_DIR="$(pwd)/backup"
+mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}
+
+# Create stale directories that should be cleaned up
+mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp.stale1
+mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp.stale2
+touch ${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp.stale1/somefile
+
+# Create directories that should NOT be cleaned up
+mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}/other_dir
+mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp_but_no_dot
+mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp
+touch ${BACKUP_DIR}/other_dir/keepme
+
+# Create an instance of the container under testing
+cid="$(docker run -e BACKUP_CLEANUP_INTERVAL=1 -e JENKINS_HOME=${JENKINS_HOME} -v ${JENKINS_HOME}:${JENKINS_HOME}:ro -e BACKUP_DIR=${BACKUP_DIR} -v ${BACKUP_DIR}:${BACKUP_DIR}:rw -d ${docker_image})"
+echo "Docker container ID '${cid}'"
+
+# Remove test directory and container afterwards
+trap "docker rm -vf $cid > /dev/null;rm -rf ${BACKUP_DIR}" EXIT
+
+backup_number=1
+docker exec ${cid} /home/user/bin/backup.sh ${backup_number}
+
+# Check cleanup results
+if [ -d "${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp.stale1" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: Stale directory tmp.stale1 was not removed"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -d "${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp.stale2" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: Stale directory tmp.stale2 was not removed"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "${BACKUP_DIR}/other_dir" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: Directory other_dir was incorrectly removed"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp_but_no_dot" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: Directory tmp_but_no_dot was incorrectly removed"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "${BACKUP_DIR}/tmp" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: Directory tmp was incorrectly removed"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Verify backup success
+backup_file="${BACKUP_DIR}/${backup_number}.tar.zstd"
+[[ ! -f ${backup_file} ]] && echo "Backup file ${backup_file} not found" && exit 1;
+
+# Verify no unexpected tmp directories remain
+remaining_tmp=$(find "${BACKUP_DIR}" -maxdepth 1 -name "tmp.*")
+if [ ! -z "$remaining_tmp" ]; then
+    echo "FAIL: Unexpected tmp directories remaining: $remaining_tmp"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Stale temporary directories cleaned up successfully"
+echo PASS