diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index f863e4d3cae..90cc1c0a974 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 PHP                                                                        NEWS
 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-?? ??? ????, PHP 8.4.18
+29 Jan 2026, PHP 8.4.18RC1
 
 - Core:
   . Fixed bug GH-20837 (NULL dereference when calling ob_start() in shutdown
diff --git a/Zend/zend.h b/Zend/zend.h
index a3fbdf3c7c2..f7e2d340280 100644
--- a/Zend/zend.h
+++ b/Zend/zend.h
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 #ifndef ZEND_H
 #define ZEND_H
 
-#define ZEND_VERSION "4.4.18-dev"
+#define ZEND_VERSION "4.4.18RC1"
 
 #define ZEND_ENGINE_3
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e339666e91b..175f9ea583d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ dnl Basic autoconf initialization, generation of config.nice.
 dnl ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.68])
-AC_INIT([PHP],[8.4.18-dev],[https://github.com/php/php-src/issues],[php],[https://www.php.net])
+AC_INIT([PHP],[8.4.18RC1],[https://github.com/php/php-src/issues],[php],[https://www.php.net])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([main/php_version.h])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build])
 AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
diff --git a/main/php_version.h b/main/php_version.h
index a508f5375c4..62efb498c1c 100644
--- a/main/php_version.h
+++ b/main/php_version.h
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 #define PHP_MAJOR_VERSION 8
 #define PHP_MINOR_VERSION 4
 #define PHP_RELEASE_VERSION 18
-#define PHP_EXTRA_VERSION "-dev"
-#define PHP_VERSION "8.4.18-dev"
+#define PHP_EXTRA_VERSION "RC1"
+#define PHP_VERSION "8.4.18RC1"
 #define PHP_VERSION_ID 80418