diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index ce1f4466..e7cb7b0b 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Version 2.3.0 (2012-12-05 14:17:12) rc1
+Version 2.3.0 (2012-12-05 15:23:32) rc1
diff --git a/gluon/validators.py b/gluon/validators.py
index 37cbc781..9ab4c99d 100644
--- a/gluon/validators.py
+++ b/gluon/validators.py
@@ -2858,6 +2858,8 @@ class IS_STRONG(object):
 
     def __call__(self, value):
         failures = []
+        if value and len(value) == value.count('*') > 4:
+            return (value, None)
         if self.entropy is not None:
             entropy = calc_entropy(value)
             if entropy < self.entropy: