diff --git a/backend/src/services/identity-kubernetes-auth/identity-kubernetes-auth-service.ts b/backend/src/services/identity-kubernetes-auth/identity-kubernetes-auth-service.ts
index df72b428ec..b15a2ed4f0 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/identity-kubernetes-auth/identity-kubernetes-auth-service.ts
+++ b/backend/src/services/identity-kubernetes-auth/identity-kubernetes-auth-service.ts
@@ -274,9 +274,27 @@ export const identityKubernetesAuthServiceFactory = ({
 
     if (identityKubernetesAuth.tokenReviewMode === IdentityKubernetesAuthTokenReviewMode.Gateway) {
       const { kubernetesHost } = identityKubernetesAuth;
-      const lastColonIndex = kubernetesHost.lastIndexOf(":");
-      const k8sHost = kubernetesHost.substring(0, lastColonIndex);
-      const k8sPort = kubernetesHost.substring(lastColonIndex + 1);
+
+      let urlString = kubernetesHost;
+      if (!kubernetesHost.startsWith("http://") && !kubernetesHost.startsWith("https://")) {
+        urlString = `https://${kubernetesHost}`;
+      }
+
+      const url = new URL(urlString);
+      let { port: k8sPort } = url;
+      const { protocol, hostname: k8sHost } = url;
+
+      const cleanedProtocol = new RE2(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/g).replace(protocol, "").toLowerCase();
+
+      if (!["https", "http"].includes(cleanedProtocol)) {
+        throw new BadRequestError({
+          message: "Invalid Kubernetes host URL, must start with http:// or https://"
+        });
+      }
+
+      if (!k8sPort) {
+        k8sPort = cleanedProtocol === "https" ? "443" : "80";
+      }
 
       if (!identityKubernetesAuth.gatewayId) {
         throw new BadRequestError({
@@ -287,7 +305,7 @@ export const identityKubernetesAuthServiceFactory = ({
       data = await $gatewayProxyWrapper(
         {
           gatewayId: identityKubernetesAuth.gatewayId,
-          targetHost: k8sHost, // note(daniel): must include the protocol (https|http)
+          targetHost: `${cleanedProtocol}://${k8sHost}`, // note(daniel): must include the protocol (https|http)
           targetPort: k8sPort ? Number(k8sPort) : 443,
           caCert,
           reviewTokenThroughGateway: true
diff --git a/cli/packages/gateway/connection.go b/cli/packages/gateway/connection.go
index 9274086a1a..46d194c962 100644
--- a/cli/packages/gateway/connection.go
+++ b/cli/packages/gateway/connection.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -106,6 +107,11 @@ func handleStream(stream quic.Stream, quicConn quic.Connection) {
 
 			targetURL := string(argParts[0])
 
+			if !isValidURL(targetURL) {
+				log.Error().Msgf("Invalid target URL: %s", targetURL)
+				return
+			}
+
 			// Parse optional parameters
 			var caCertB64, verifyParam string
 			for _, part := range argParts[1:] {
@@ -255,6 +261,11 @@ type CloseWrite interface {
 	CloseWrite() error
 }
 
+func isValidURL(str string) bool {
+	u, err := url.Parse(str)
+	return err == nil && u.Scheme != "" && u.Host != ""
+}
+
 func CopyDataFromQuicToTcp(quicStream quic.Stream, tcpConn net.Conn) {
 	// Create a WaitGroup to wait for both copy operations
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
diff --git a/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/CHANGELOG.md b/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/CHANGELOG.md
index 57bb3b0313..06ff25bf7a 100644
--- a/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 0.0.3 (June 6, 2025)
+
+* Minor fix for handling malformed URL's for HTTP forwarding
+
 ## 0.0.2 (June 6, 2025)
 
 * Bumped default CLI image version from 0.41.1 -> 0.41.8.
diff --git a/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/Chart.yaml b/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/Chart.yaml
index a53258f68b..8d9d4dac3c 100644
--- a/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/Chart.yaml
+++ b/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/Chart.yaml
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ type: application
 # This is the chart version. This version number should be incremented each time you make changes
 # to the chart and its templates, including the app version.
 # Versions are expected to follow Semantic Versioning (https://semver.org/)
-version: 0.0.2
+version: 0.0.3
 
 # This is the version number of the application being deployed. This version number should be
 # incremented each time you make changes to the application. Versions are not expected to
 # follow Semantic Versioning. They should reflect the version the application is using.
 # It is recommended to use it with quotes.
-appVersion: "0.0.2"
+appVersion: "0.0.3"
diff --git a/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/values.yaml b/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/values.yaml
index fef55daa75..9e897f4613 100644
--- a/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/values.yaml
+++ b/helm-charts/infisical-gateway/values.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 image:
   pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
-  tag: "0.41.8"
+  tag: "0.41.81"
 
 secret:
   # The secret that contains the environment variables to be used by the gateway, such as INFISICAL_API_URL and TOKEN