diff --git a/src/box/box.cc b/src/box/box.cc
index 6d607c0cd5b28d11d4924c485148d8116b903884..35b4143699987e12584a6f901cbe7d72f3233129 100644
--- a/src/box/box.cc
+++ b/src/box/box.cc
@@ -502,7 +502,8 @@ box_load_cfg()
 void
 box_atfork()
 {
-	assert(recovery == NULL);
+	/* box.coredump() forks to save a core. */
+	recovery_atfork(recovery);
 }
 
 int
diff --git a/src/box/recovery.cc b/src/box/recovery.cc
index b64f13742718b2d12564292ff2fd1cbdc9909013..9843da6631f01549b3b720b802c9f1c282be5588 100644
--- a/src/box/recovery.cc
+++ b/src/box/recovery.cc
@@ -242,6 +242,18 @@ recovery_exit(struct recovery_state *r)
 	recovery_delete(r);
 }
 
+void
+recovery_atfork(struct recovery_state *r)
+{
+       xlog_atfork(&r->current_wal);
+       /*
+        * Make sure that atexit() handlers in the child do
+        * not try to stop the non-existent thread.
+        * The writer is not used in the child.
+        */
+       r->writer = NULL;
+}
+
 void
 recovery_apply_row(struct recovery_state *r, struct xrow_header *row)
 {
diff --git a/src/box/recovery.h b/src/box/recovery.h
index f3799447ca92b17d996837b4aa12f5064f990ca2..c68f56c88a8c93cb6d4699a38c990c35fce6f938 100644
--- a/src/box/recovery.h
+++ b/src/box/recovery.h
@@ -158,6 +158,12 @@ recovery_apply_row(struct recovery_state *r, struct xrow_header *packet);
 int64_t
 recovery_last_checkpoint(struct recovery_state *r);
 
+/**
+ * Ensure we don't corrupt the current WAL file in the child.
+ */
+void
+recovery_atfork(struct recovery_state *r);
+
 #if defined(__cplusplus)
 } /* extern "C" */
 #endif /* defined(__cplusplus) */