diff --git a/pageserver/src/walredo.rs b/pageserver/src/walredo.rs
index f5c640d5f5..167f74a8fa 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/walredo.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/walredo.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ use std::os::unix::io::{AsRawFd, RawFd};
 use std::os::unix::prelude::CommandExt;
 use std::process::Stdio;
 use std::process::{Child, ChildStderr, ChildStdin, ChildStdout, Command};
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU64, Ordering};
 use std::sync::{Mutex, MutexGuard};
 use std::time::Duration;
 use std::time::Instant;
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ use utils::crashsafe::path_with_suffix_extension;
 use utils::{bin_ser::BeSer, id::TenantId, lsn::Lsn, nonblock::set_nonblock};
 
 #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
-use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+use std::sync::atomic::AtomicUsize;
 
 use crate::metrics::{
     WAL_REDO_BYTES_HISTOGRAM, WAL_REDO_RECORDS_HISTOGRAM, WAL_REDO_RECORD_COUNTER, WAL_REDO_TIME,
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ pub trait WalRedoManager: Send + Sync {
 }
 
 struct ProcessInput {
+    restart_no: u64,
     child: NoLeakChild,
     stdin: ChildStdin,
     stderr_fd: RawFd,
@@ -101,6 +103,7 @@ struct ProcessInput {
 }
 
 struct ProcessOutput {
+    restart_no: u64,
     stdout: ChildStdout,
     pending_responses: VecDeque<Option<Bytes>>,
     n_processed_responses: usize,
@@ -120,6 +123,7 @@ pub struct PostgresRedoManager {
     #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
     dump_sequence: AtomicUsize,
 
+    restart_counter: AtomicU64,
     stdout: Mutex<Option<ProcessOutput>>,
     stdin: Mutex<Option<ProcessInput>>,
     stderr: Mutex<Option<ChildStderr>>,
@@ -228,6 +232,7 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
     pub fn new(conf: &'static PageServerConf, tenant_id: TenantId) -> PostgresRedoManager {
         // The actual process is launched lazily, on first request.
         PostgresRedoManager {
+            restart_counter: AtomicU64::new(0),
             tenant_id,
             conf,
             #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
@@ -273,7 +278,7 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
             if proc.is_none() {
                 self.launch(&mut proc, pg_version)?;
             }
-            let stdin_fd = proc.as_mut().unwrap().stdin.as_raw_fd();
+            let restart_no = proc.as_ref().unwrap().restart_no;
             WAL_REDO_WAIT_TIME.observe(lock_time.duration_since(start_time).as_secs_f64());
 
             // Relational WAL records are applied using wal-redo-postgres
@@ -323,18 +328,10 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
                 // self.stdin only holds stdin & stderr as_raw_fd().
                 // Dropping it as part of take() doesn't close them.
                 // The owning objects (ChildStdout and ChildStderr) are stored in
-                // self.stdout and self.stderr, respsectively.
-                // We intentionally keep them open here to avoid a race between
-                // currently running `apply_wal_records()` and a `launch()` call
-                // after we return here.
-                // The currently running `apply_wal_records()` must not read from
-                // the newly launched process.
-                // By keeping self.stdout and self.stderr open here, `launch()` will
-                // get other file descriptors for the new child's stdout and stderr,
-                // and hence the current `apply_wal_records()` calls will observe
-                //  `output.stdout.as_raw_fd() != stdout_fd` .
+                // self.stdout and self.stderr, respectively.
+                // They will be closed when the new process is launched.
                 if let Some(proc) = self.stdin.lock().unwrap().take() {
-                    if stdin_fd == proc.stdin.as_raw_fd() {
+                    if proc.restart_no == restart_no {
                         proc.child.kill_and_wait();
                     }
                 }
@@ -733,7 +730,9 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
         // all fallible operations post-spawn are complete, so get rid of the guard
         let child = scopeguard::ScopeGuard::into_inner(child);
 
+        let restart_no = self.restart_counter.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
         **input = Some(ProcessInput {
+            restart_no,
             child,
             stdout_fd: stdout.as_raw_fd(),
             stderr_fd: stderr.as_raw_fd(),
@@ -742,6 +741,7 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
         });
 
         *self.stdout.lock().unwrap() = Some(ProcessOutput {
+            restart_no,
             stdout,
             pending_responses: VecDeque::new(),
             n_processed_responses: 0,
@@ -813,13 +813,13 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
     ) -> Result<Bytes, std::io::Error> {
         let proc = input.as_mut().unwrap();
         let mut nwrite = 0usize;
-        let stdout_fd = proc.stdout_fd;
+        let restart_no = proc.restart_no;
 
         // Prepare for calling poll()
         let mut pollfds = [
             PollFd::new(proc.stdin.as_raw_fd(), PollFlags::POLLOUT),
             PollFd::new(proc.stderr_fd, PollFlags::POLLIN),
-            PollFd::new(stdout_fd, PollFlags::POLLIN),
+            PollFd::new(proc.stdout_fd, PollFlags::POLLIN),
         ];
 
         // We do two things simultaneously: send the old base image and WAL records to
@@ -894,13 +894,10 @@ impl PostgresRedoManager {
 
         let mut output_guard = self.stdout.lock().unwrap();
         let output = output_guard.as_mut().unwrap();
-        if output.stdout.as_raw_fd() != stdout_fd {
-            // If stdout file descriptor is changed then it means that walredo process is crashed and restarted.
-            // As far as ProcessInput and ProcessOutout are protected by different mutexes,
-            // it can happen that we send request to one process and waiting response from another.
-            // To prevent such situation we compare stdout file descriptors.
-            // As far as old stdout pipe is destroyed only after new one is created,
-            // it can not reuse the same file descriptor, so this check is safe.
+        if output.restart_no != restart_no {
+            // If restart_no changed, the walredo process crashed and was restarted
+            // between dropping the 'input' lock and acquiring 'output'. In that case,
+            // 'output' belongs to different process than where we sent the request.
             //
             // Cross-read this with the comment in apply_batch_postgres if result.is_err().
             // That's where we kill the child process.