diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index f42b3a8d33..6d7c41cc30 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 
+3.2.0-dev.71 | 2020-02-20 14:57:58 -0800
+
+  * Fix missing reference count incrment in AssignExpr::InitVal() (Max Kellermann)
+
 3.2.0-dev.69 | 2020-02-19 18:40:58 -0800
 
   * Fix various reference counting issues in Assign() implementations/callers (Jon Siwek, Corelight)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 0db350991e..310ecc777d 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-3.2.0-dev.69
+3.2.0-dev.71
diff --git a/src/Expr.cc b/src/Expr.cc
index 6170c1e495..70080bc0cb 100644
--- a/src/Expr.cc
+++ b/src/Expr.cc
@@ -2459,7 +2459,7 @@ Val* AssignExpr::InitVal(const BroType* t, Val* aggr) const
 		if ( ! v )
 			return 0;
 
-		aggr_r->Assign(field, v);
+		aggr_r->Assign(field, v->Ref());
 		return v;
 		}