diff --git a/src/util.cc b/src/util.cc
index de9bd5b679..721ee10a7e 100644
--- a/src/util.cc
+++ b/src/util.cc
@@ -716,6 +716,8 @@ static bool write_random_seeds(const char* write_file, uint32 seed,
 
 static bool bro_rand_determistic = false;
 static unsigned int bro_rand_state = 0;
+static bool first_seed_saved = false;
+static unsigned int first_seed = 0;
 
 static void bro_srandom(unsigned int seed, bool deterministic)
 	{
@@ -800,6 +802,12 @@ void init_random_seed(uint32 seed, const char* read_file, const char* write_file
 
 	bro_srandom(seed, seeds_done);
 
+	if ( ! first_seed_saved )
+    {
+    first_seed = seed;
+    first_seed_saved = true;
+    }
+
 	if ( ! hmac_key_set )
 		{
 		MD5((const u_char*) buf, sizeof(buf), shared_hmac_md5_key);
@@ -811,6 +819,11 @@ void init_random_seed(uint32 seed, const char* read_file, const char* write_file
 				write_file);
 	}
 
+unsigned int initial_seed()
+  {
+  return first_seed;
+}
+
 bool have_random_seed()
 	{
 	return bro_rand_determistic;
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 49bcbf318b..c3eebb04e3 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ extern void hmac_md5(size_t size, const unsigned char* bytes,
 extern void init_random_seed(uint32 seed, const char* load_file,
 				const char* write_file);
 
+// Retrieves the initial seed computed after the very first call to
+// init_random_seed(). Repeated calls to init_random_seed() will not affect the
+// return value of this function.
+unsigned int initial_seed();
+
 // Returns true if the user explicitly set a seed via init_random_seed();
 extern bool have_random_seed();