ReseedingRng: more robust fork handling

Author: dhardy

src/rngs/adapter/reseeding.rs

@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ use rand_core::{CryptoRng, Error, RngCore, SeedableRng};
 ///
 /// - On a manual call to [`reseed()`].
 /// - After `clone()`, the clone will be reseeded on first use.
-/// - After a process is forked, the RNG in the child process is reseeded within
-///   the next few generated values, depending on the block size of the
-///   underlying PRNG. For ChaCha and Hc128 this is a maximum of
-///   15 `u32` values before reseeding.
+/// - When a process is forked on UNIX, the RNGs in both the parent and child
+///   processes will be reseeded just before the next call to
+///   [`BlockRngCore::generate`], i.e. "soon". For ChaCha and Hc128 this is a
+///   maximum of fifteen `u32` values before reseeding.
 /// - After the PRNG has generated a configurable number of random bytes.
 ///
 /// # When should reseeding after a fixed number of generated bytes be used?
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ use rand_core::{CryptoRng, Error, RngCore, SeedableRng};
 /// Use [`ReseedingRng::new`] with a `threshold` of `0` to disable reseeding
 /// after a fixed number of generated bytes.
 ///
+/// # Limitations
+///
+/// It is recommended that a `ReseedingRng` (including `ThreadRng`) not be used
+/// from a fork handler.
+/// Use `OsRng` or `getrandom`, or defer your use of the RNG until later.
+///
 /// # Error handling
 ///
 /// Although unlikely, reseeding the wrapped PRNG can fail. `ReseedingRng` will
@@ -310,8 +316,16 @@ mod fork {
 
     pub fn register_fork_handler() {
         static REGISTER: Once = Once::new();
-        REGISTER.call_once(|| unsafe {
-            libc::pthread_atfork(None, None, Some(fork_handler));
+        REGISTER.call_once(|| {
+            // Bump the counter before and after forking (see #1169):
+            let ret = unsafe { libc::pthread_atfork(
+                Some(fork_handler),
+                Some(fork_handler),
+                Some(fork_handler),
+            ) };
+            if ret != 0 {
+                panic!("libc::pthread_atfork failed with code {}", ret);
+            }
         });
     }
 }

src/rngs/thread.rs

@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ const THREAD_RNG_RESEED_THRESHOLD: u64 = 1024 * 64;
 /// A reference to the thread-local generator
 ///
 /// An instance can be obtained via [`thread_rng`] or via `ThreadRng::default()`.
-/// This handle is safe to use everywhere (including thread-local destructors)
-/// but cannot be passed between threads (is not `Send` or `Sync`).
+/// This handle is safe to use everywhere (including thread-local destructors),
+/// though it is recommended not to use inside a fork handler.
+/// The handle cannot be passed between threads (is not `Send` or `Sync`).
 ///
 /// `ThreadRng` uses the same PRNG as [`StdRng`] for security and performance
 /// and is automatically seeded from [`OsRng`].