diff --git a/lib/routes/routeBackbeat.js b/lib/routes/routeBackbeat.js
index c2225b6a76..e8876a373b 100644
--- a/lib/routes/routeBackbeat.js
+++ b/lib/routes/routeBackbeat.js
@@ -1289,7 +1289,12 @@ function routeBackbeat(clientIP, request, response, log) {
                     [request.query.operation](request, response, log, next);
             }
             const versioningConfig = bucketInfo.getVersioningConfiguration();
-            if (!versioningConfig || versioningConfig.Status !== 'Enabled') {
+            // The following makes sure that only replication destination-related operations
+            // target buckets with versioning enabled.
+            // This allows lifecycle expiration operations (getMetadata) to work on non-versioned buckets.
+            const isCRRDestinationRequest = request.method === 'PUT' &&
+                (request.resourceType === 'data' || request.resourceType === 'metadata');
+            if (isCRRDestinationRequest && (!versioningConfig || versioningConfig.Status !== 'Enabled')) {
                 log.debug('bucket versioning is not enabled', {
                     method: request.method,
                     bucketName: request.bucketName,
diff --git a/tests/unit/routes/routeBackbeat.js b/tests/unit/routes/routeBackbeat.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cbcbd46006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/routes/routeBackbeat.js
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+const assert = require('assert');
+const sinon = require('sinon');
+const metadataUtils = require('../../../lib/metadata/metadataUtils');
+const storeObject = require('../../../lib/api/apiUtils/object/storeObject');
+const metadata = require('../../../lib/metadata/wrapper');
+const { DummyRequestLogger } = require('../helpers');
+const DummyRequest = require('../DummyRequest');
+
+const log = new DummyRequestLogger();
+
+function prepareDummyRequest(headers = {}) {
+    const request = new DummyRequest({
+        hostname: 'localhost',
+        method: 'PUT',
+        url: '/_/backbeat/metadata/bucket0/key0',
+        port: 80,
+        headers,
+        socket: {
+            remoteAddress: '0.0.0.0',
+        },
+    }, '{"replicationInfo":"{}"}');
+    return request;
+}
+
+describe('routeBackbeat', () => {
+    let mockResponse;
+    let mockRequest;
+    let sandbox;
+    let endPromise;
+    let resolveEnd;
+    let routeBackbeat;
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+        sandbox = sinon.createSandbox();
+
+        // create a Promise that resolves when response.end is called
+        endPromise = new Promise((resolve) => { resolveEnd = resolve; });
+
+        mockResponse = {
+            statusCode: null,
+            body: null,
+            setHeader: () => {},
+            writeHead: sandbox.spy(statusCode => {
+                mockResponse.statusCode = statusCode;
+            }),
+            end: sandbox.spy((body, encoding, callback) => {
+                mockResponse.body = JSON.parse(body);
+                if (callback) callback();
+                resolveEnd(); // Resolve the Promise when end is called
+            }),
+        };
+
+        mockRequest = prepareDummyRequest();
+
+        sandbox.stub(metadataUtils, 'standardMetadataValidateBucketAndObj');
+        sandbox.stub(storeObject, 'dataStore');
+
+        // Clear require cache for routeBackbeat to make sure fresh module with stubbed dependencies
+        delete require.cache[require.resolve('../../../lib/routes/routeBackbeat')];
+        routeBackbeat = require('../../../lib/routes/routeBackbeat');
+    });
+
+    afterEach(() => {
+        sandbox.restore();
+    });
+
+    const rejectionTests = [
+        {
+            description: 'should reject CRR destination (putData) requests when versioning is disabled',
+            method: 'PUT',
+            url: '/_/backbeat/data/bucket0/key0',
+        },
+        {
+            description: 'should reject CRR destination (putMetadata) requests when versioning is disabled',
+            method: 'PUT',
+            url: '/_/backbeat/metadata/bucket0/key0',
+        },
+    ];
+
+    rejectionTests.forEach(({ description, method, url }) => {
+        it(description, async () => {
+            mockRequest.method = method;
+            mockRequest.url = url;
+            metadataUtils.standardMetadataValidateBucketAndObj.callsFake((params, denies, log, callback) => {
+                const bucketInfo = {
+                    getVersioningConfiguration: () => ({ Status: 'Disabled' }),
+                };
+                const objMd = {};
+                callback(null, bucketInfo, objMd);
+            });
+
+            routeBackbeat('127.0.0.1', mockRequest, mockResponse, log);
+
+            void await endPromise;
+
+            assert.strictEqual(mockResponse.statusCode, 409);
+            assert.strictEqual(mockResponse.body.code, 'InvalidBucketState');
+        });
+    });
+
+    it('should allow non-CRR destination (getMetadata) requests regardless of versioning', async () => {
+        mockRequest.method = 'GET';
+
+        metadataUtils.standardMetadataValidateBucketAndObj.callsFake((params, denies, log, callback) => {
+            const bucketInfo = {
+                getVersioningConfiguration: () => ({ Status: 'Disabled' }),
+            };
+            const objMd = {};
+            callback(null, bucketInfo, objMd);
+        });
+
+        routeBackbeat('127.0.0.1', mockRequest, mockResponse, log);
+
+        void await endPromise;
+
+        assert.strictEqual(mockResponse.statusCode, 200);
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(mockResponse.body, { Body: '{}' });
+    });
+
+    it('should allow CRR destination requests (putMetadata) when versioning is enabled', async () => {
+        mockRequest.method = 'PUT';
+        mockRequest.url = '/_/backbeat/metadata/bucket0/key0';
+        mockRequest.destroy = () => {};
+
+        sandbox.stub(metadata, 'putObjectMD').callsFake((bucketName, objectKey, omVal, options, logParam, cb) => {
+            cb(null, {});
+        });
+
+        metadataUtils.standardMetadataValidateBucketAndObj.callsFake((params, denies, log, callback) => {
+            const bucketInfo = {
+                getVersioningConfiguration: () => ({ Status: 'Enabled' }),
+                isVersioningEnabled: () => true,
+            };
+            const objMd = {};
+            callback(null, bucketInfo, objMd);
+        });
+
+        routeBackbeat('127.0.0.1', mockRequest, mockResponse, log);
+
+        void await endPromise;
+
+        assert.strictEqual(mockResponse.statusCode, 200);
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(mockResponse.body, {});
+    });
+
+    it('should allow CRR destination requests (putData) when versioning is enabled', async () => {
+        const md5 = '1234';
+        mockRequest.method = 'PUT';
+        mockRequest.url = '/_/backbeat/data/bucket0/key0';
+        mockRequest.headers = {
+            'x-scal-canonical-id': 'id',
+            'content-md5': md5,
+            'content-length': '0',
+        };
+        mockRequest.destroy = () => {};
+
+        metadataUtils.standardMetadataValidateBucketAndObj.callsFake((params, denies, log, callback) => {
+            const bucketInfo = {
+                getVersioningConfiguration: () => ({ Status: 'Enabled' }),
+                isVersioningEnabled: () => true,
+                getLocationConstraint: () => undefined,
+            };
+            const objMd = {};
+            callback(null, bucketInfo, objMd);
+        });
+        storeObject.dataStore.callsFake((objectContext, cipherBundle, stream, size,
+            streamingV4Params, backendInfo, log, callback) => {
+            callback(null, {}, md5);
+        });
+
+        routeBackbeat('127.0.0.1', mockRequest, mockResponse, log);
+
+        void await endPromise;
+
+        assert.strictEqual(mockResponse.statusCode, 200);
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(mockResponse.body, [{}]);
+    });
+});