diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 899148864b079845180d878fe6b09f3abdcafc4b..72a87cd6c64412e72f00af40bd4aa6e5d8ba0264 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ include(cmake/CheckAtomic.cmake)
 include(CTest)
 
 set (opendht_VERSION_MAJOR 2)
-set (opendht_VERSION_MINOR 5.2)
+set (opendht_VERSION_MINOR 5.3)
 set (opendht_VERSION ${opendht_VERSION_MAJOR}.${opendht_VERSION_MINOR})
 set (PACKAGE_VERSION ${opendht_VERSION})
 set (VERSION "${opendht_VERSION}")
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a7339972e6a8e366abb12d5005a03c83deea44fd..f27624195cdf99e8a3ac5e2b08836d4a48d6c08b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 dnl define macros
 m4_define([opendht_major_version], 2)
 m4_define([opendht_minor_version], 5)
-m4_define([opendht_patch_version], 2)
+m4_define([opendht_patch_version], 3)
 m4_define([opendht_version],
 		  [opendht_major_version.opendht_minor_version.opendht_patch_version])
 
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b4470d0680281d3c1bdbee39574c91a36fa74437..eb38ba4100889d522354f8d5c0bfbe2a4ed4fce2 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('opendht', 'c', 'cpp',
-    version: '2.5.2',
+    version: '2.5.3',
     default_options: [
         'cpp_std=c++17',
         'warning_level=3'