diff --git a/src/restart_counter.c b/src/restart_counter.c
index 958ade5..b785844 100644
--- a/src/restart_counter.c
+++ b/src/restart_counter.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ UCRCResult uc_restart_counter_init(
     counter->counter = 0;
     counter->fd = -1;
 
-    fd = open(filename, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0600);
+    fd = open(filename, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0644);
 
     if (fd == -1) {
         return UC_RC_ERR_FILE_ACCESS_ERROR;
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ UCRCResult uc_restart_counter_init(
         if (lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET) != 0 ||
             ftruncate(fd,0) != 0) {
             rc = UC_RC_ERR_UNSPECIFIED;
+            goto done;
         }
 
 
@@ -75,6 +76,9 @@ UCRCResult uc_restart_counter_init(
         rc = UC_RC_ERR_UNSPECIFIED;
     }
     
+    fsync(fd);
+
+done:
     if ((flags & UC_RC_FL_LOCK_FILE) == 0) {
         close(fd);
     }