diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d512874927..163d3d882c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,38 @@
+#### v4.4.6 (2025-08-06)
+
+##### Chores
+
+*  incrementing version number - v4.4.5 (6f106923)
+*  update changelog for v4.4.5 (de05dad2)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.4.4 (d323af44)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.4.3 (d354c2eb)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.4.2 (55c510ae)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.4.1 (5ae79b4e)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.4.0 (0a75eee3)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.3.2 (b92b5d80)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.3.1 (308e6b9f)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.3.0 (bff291db)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.2.2 (17fecc24)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.2.1 (852a270c)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.2.0 (87581958)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.1.1 (b2afbb16)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.1.0 (36c80850)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.6 (4a52fb2e)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.5 (1792a62b)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.4 (b1125cce)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.3 (2b65c735)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.2 (73fe5fcf)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.1 (a461b758)
+*  incrementing version number - v4.0.0 (c1eaee45)
+
+##### New Features
+
+*  add new brite skin from bootswatch (567ed875)
+
+##### Bug Fixes
+
+*  pass max-memory expose-gc as process args (d5f57af3)
+
 #### v4.4.5 (2025-07-31)
 
 ##### Chores
diff --git a/install/package.json b/install/package.json
index 72fc65b7b7..6108fce1a7 100644
--- a/install/package.json
+++ b/install/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     "name": "nodebb",
     "license": "GPL-3.0",
     "description": "NodeBB Forum",
-    "version": "4.4.5",
+    "version": "4.4.6",
     "homepage": "https://www.nodebb.org",
     "repository": {
         "type": "git",
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@
         "nodebb-theme-lavender": "7.1.19",
         "nodebb-theme-peace": "2.2.46",
         "nodebb-theme-persona": "14.1.12",
-        "nodebb-widget-essentials": "7.0.38",
+        "nodebb-widget-essentials": "7.0.39",
         "nodemailer": "7.0.5",
         "nprogress": "0.2.0",
         "passport": "0.7.0",
diff --git a/src/activitypub/mocks.js b/src/activitypub/mocks.js
index 5268dd1c01..2f65471dee 100644
--- a/src/activitypub/mocks.js
+++ b/src/activitypub/mocks.js
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Mocks._normalize = async (object) => {
 		content = '<em>This post did not contain any content.</em>';
 	}
 
-	switch (true) {
+	switch (true) { // image handling
 		case image && image.hasOwnProperty('url') && !!image.url: {
 			image = image.url;
 			break;
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ Mocks._normalize = async (object) => {
 	}
 	if (image) {
 		const parsed = new URL(image);
-		if (!mime.getType(parsed.pathname).startsWith('image/')) {
+		const type = mime.getType(parsed.pathname);
+		if (!type || type.startsWith('image/')) {
 			activitypub.helpers.log(`[activitypub/mocks.post] Received image not identified as image due to MIME type: ${image}`);
 			image = null;
 		}