Bump version string for release

Change-Id: Ib26383efb3d8e56cedd94f0d445f74722a7349c4
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index aaaa390..a49ebe6 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.8.43
+1.8.44