diff --git a/.github/release-please/manifest.json b/.github/release-please/manifest.json
index ddf856a98e26..c43a992917e1 100644
--- a/.github/release-please/manifest.json
+++ b/.github/release-please/manifest.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "core": "25.3.0",
+  "core": "25.4.0",
   "prover": "17.1.1",
   "zkstack_cli": "0.1.2"
 }
diff --git a/core/CHANGELOG.md b/core/CHANGELOG.md
index acdd2fefb1ab..b5ed3a13cf24 100644
--- a/core/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/core/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [25.4.0](https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era/compare/core-v25.3.0...core-v25.4.0) (2024-12-12)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add support for custom genesis state ([#3259](https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era/issues/3259)) ([3cffdb2](https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era/commit/3cffdb2d5e144f2e3d8617fa22aacf6cce5998a2))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **contract-verifier:** Fix version extraction in gh resolver ([#3378](https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era/issues/3378)) ([9a10dcf](https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era/commit/9a10dcf764e25c4e60b7ae5ddfa728c9cf576248))
+
 ## [25.3.0](https://github.com/matter-labs/zksync-era/compare/core-v25.2.0...core-v25.3.0) (2024-12-11)
 
 
diff --git a/core/bin/external_node/Cargo.toml b/core/bin/external_node/Cargo.toml
index f56af827bc45..799108f30723 100644
--- a/core/bin/external_node/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/bin/external_node/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "zksync_external_node"
 description = "Non-validator ZKsync node"
-version = "25.3.0" # x-release-please-version
+version = "25.4.0" # x-release-please-version
 edition.workspace = true
 authors.workspace = true
 homepage.workspace = true