diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 1cb0131c5f8..3468aee81f6 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ included in the vX.Y.Z section and be denoted as:
 3.1.1 -- June, 2018
 -------------------
 
+- Fix potential hang in UCX PML during MPI_FINALIZE
 - Update internal PMIx to v2.1.2rc2 to fix forward version compatibility.
 - Add new MCA parameter osc_sm_backing_store to allow users to specify
   where in the filesystem the backing file for the shared memory
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 199675ad3ec..7a0c9de503a 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ release=1
 # requirement is that it must be entirely printable ASCII characters
 # and have no white space.
 
-greek=rc1
+greek=rc2
 
 # If repo_rev is empty, then the repository version number will be
 # obtained during "make dist" via the "git describe --tags --always"