diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4725c033..98fc2e1d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
     <groupId>com.fasterxml.woodstox</groupId>
     <artifactId>woodstox-core</artifactId>
-    <version>5.3.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>5.4.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <packaging>bundle</packaging>
     <name>Woodstox</name>
     <description>
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION b/release-notes/VERSION
index b3847902..9056fd5a 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@ Project: woodstox
 === Releases ===
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-6.0.0 (not yet released)
-
-#78: Shade MSV dependency
-
-5.4.0 (not yet released)
+5.4.0 (24-Oct-2022)
 
 #104: `NullPointerException` in `DTDValidator.validateElementEnd()`
   for element undefined in DTD