diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index fd407a83..7bbd6a5e 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1 +1 @@
-{".":"9.3.0"}
+{".":"9.4.0"}
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb14f3f1..80529315 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,21 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+## [9.4.0](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/compare/v9.3.0...v9.4.0) (2026-09-18)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* extract Spring Boot Jar layers to optimize OCI image build ([#785](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/issues/785)) ([462c5f9](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/commit/462c5f916259e68a08f1a642566d6315ff98c6fb))
+* start application on Arbitrum Sepolia by default ([#782](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/issues/782)) ([e0b81f0](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/commit/e0b81f09087a2fcb8eba84de9e7a1c044c7bc133))
+* upgrade to Java 21 ([#780](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/issues/780)) ([fa704ab](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/commit/fa704ab37aab5af5874effe7dfbcc0cfad713975))
+* upgrade to Spring Boot 3.5.8 ([#778](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/issues/778)) ([cbab2ec](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/commit/cbab2ecba2f536523c7a6ff7f51ec1f3bac32986))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* resolve ExecutorService reliability issue in TaskService with try-with-resources ([#783](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/issues/783)) ([c65f130](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/commit/c65f130dbf5a70f3ce36d76aa4518a696a04203c))
+
 ## [9.3.0](https://github.com/iExecBlockchainComputing/iexec-core/compare/v9.2.1...v9.3.0) (2026-04-30)
 
 
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index c0317e89..1245b31f 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # x-release-please-start-version
-version=9.3.0
+version=9.4.0
 # x-release-please-end
 iexecCommonsPocoVersion=5.5.0
 iexecCommonVersion=9.3.0