diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 12a5b97e..2475a877 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+Noteworthy changes in version 1.23.3 (unrelease)
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+
 Noteworthy changes in version 1.23.2 (2023-11-28)
 -------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ae4c7da0..9d551813 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ min_automake_version="1.14"
 m4_define([mym4_package],[gpgme])
 m4_define([mym4_major], [1])
 m4_define([mym4_minor], [23])
-m4_define([mym4_micro], [2])
+m4_define([mym4_micro], [3])
 
 # Below is m4 magic to extract and compute the git revision number,
 # the decimalized short revision number, a beta version string and a