diff --git a/.typos.toml b/.typos.toml
index dfa60bd504..d162b1d842 100644
--- a/.typos.toml
+++ b/.typos.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ extend-ignore-re = [
     "\"BaR\"",
     "\"xFoObar\"",
     "\"FoO\"",
+    "Steve Smoot",
 ]
 
 extend-ignore-identifiers-re = [
diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 4f14dba6d2..34feb74a85 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+7.0.0-rc4.4 | 2024-07-31 09:36:51 -0700
+
+  * Allowlist a name for typos check (Benjamin Bannier, Corelight)
+
+  * Bump Spicy to latest release (Benjamin Bannier, Corelight)
+
 7.0.0-rc4 | 2024-07-26 10:12:34 -0700
 
   * Bump auxil/spicy to latest development snapshot (Benjamin Bannier, Corelight)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 12751eb9a9..a0664e5d3d 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-7.0.0-rc4
+7.0.0-rc4.4
diff --git a/auxil/spicy b/auxil/spicy
index 4c5c26bf34..7ddf6ce441 160000
--- a/auxil/spicy
+++ b/auxil/spicy
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 4c5c26bf34c2cf2cedf56270e84f1271fcf94465
+Subproject commit 7ddf6ce441d63aa5894dd11d9a5047ddc761de9a