diff --git a/tool/net/demo/sql-backup.lua b/tool/net/demo/sql-backup.lua
index e8dea9f54..77d6b93b9 100644
--- a/tool/net/demo/sql-backup.lua
+++ b/tool/net/demo/sql-backup.lua
@@ -7,7 +7,12 @@ backup = sqlite3.open_memory()
 buffer = LoadAsset("backup.sqlite3")
 backup:deserialize(buffer)
 
+-- insert more values
+for i = 1, 250 do
+  backup:exec("INSERT INTO test (content) VALUES ('Hello more')")
+end
+
 -- See .init.lua for CREATE TABLE setup.
 for row in backup:nrows("SELECT * FROM test") do
    Write(row.id.." "..row.content.."<br>")
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/tool/net/lsqlite3.c b/tool/net/lsqlite3.c
index ff7485c6b..d03092136 100644
--- a/tool/net/lsqlite3.c
+++ b/tool/net/lsqlite3.c
@@ -1812,8 +1812,9 @@ static int db_deserialize(lua_State *L) {
     if (buffer == NULL || size == 0) /* ignore empty database content */
         return 0;
 
-    sqlite3_deserialize(db->db, "main", buffer, size, size, 0);
-    free(buffer);
+    const char *sqlbuf = memcpy(sqlite3_malloc(size), buffer, size);
+    sqlite3_deserialize(db->db, "main", sqlbuf, size, size,
+        SQLITE_DESERIALIZE_FREEONCLOSE + SQLITE_DESERIALIZE_RESIZEABLE);
     return 0;
 }