Tipifarnib and Sorafenib Tosylate in Treating Patients With Biopsiable Advanced Cancer

Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients must have had =\< 4 prior chemotherapy regimens; patients must have advanced cancer that is refractory to standard therapy or for whom there is no standard therapy that increases survival by three months
* Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%)
* Life expectancy of greater than 12 weeks
* Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL
* Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL
* Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL
* Total bilirubin =\< 1.5
* Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 x institutional upper limit of normal
* Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal (a calculated creatinine clearance \[CrCL\] is acceptable)
* International normalized ratio (INR)/prothrombin time (PT) =\< within institutional guidelines for biopsy procedures (=\< 16 seconds)
* Eligibility of patients receiving any other medications or substances known to affect or with the potential to affect the activity or pharmacokinetics of BAY 43-9006 (sorafenib tosylate) or R115777 (tipifarnib) will be determined following review of their case by the Principal Investigator
* Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately
* Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document
* Tumor accessible for repeat biopsies

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier
* Patients may not be receiving any investigational agents other than BAY 43-9006 and R115777
* Patients with known brain metastases are excluded except for patients who have had treated brain metastases and are currently not taking anti-seizure medications or steroids
* Patients may not have allergies to imidazoles (e.g., clotrimazole, ketoconazole, miconazole, econazole) or a history of allergic reactions attributed to any other compound of similar chemical or biologic composition to either BAY 43-9006 or R115777
* Uncontrolled hypertension with systolic blood pressure of \> 140 mmHg or diastolic pressure \> 90 mmHg; however, patients with well-controlled hypertension are eligible
* Patients must not have any evidence of current history of bleeding diathesis
* Patients cannot be on therapeutic anticoagulation; prophylactic anticoagulation therapy (e.g., low-dose warfarin) of venous or arterial access devices is allowed provided that the requirements for prothrombin time (INR; international normalized ratio of prothrombin time) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) are maintained; patients will be monitored on a weekly basis for the first (1st) cycle of treatment until the INR/PT has stabilized for 2 weeks consecutively; if patients discontinue the R115777 patients will be monitored weekly until INR/PT is stabilized for 2 weeks consecutively
* Patients may not have grade 2 or greater peripheral neuropathy
* Patients with any condition that impairs their ability to swallow pills are excluded
* Patients cannot be receiving enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (EIAEDs) (e.g., phenytoin, carbamazepine, phenobarbital) nor any other cytochrome P450 family 3, subfamily A, polypeptide (CYP3A4) inducer such as rifampin or St. John's wort
* Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, uncontrolled hypertension, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
* Patients with a New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification \> 2
* Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with either of these agents
* Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy are ineligible