diff --git a/pkg/input/types/http.go b/pkg/input/types/http.go
index dbc5c9e325..0620d85f8c 100644
--- a/pkg/input/types/http.go
+++ b/pkg/input/types/http.go
@@ -123,11 +123,15 @@ func (rr *RequestResponse) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &m); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	urlStr, ok := m["url"]
+	urlStrRaw, ok := m["url"]
 	if !ok {
 		return fmt.Errorf("missing url in request response")
 	}
-	parsed, err := urlutil.ParseAbsoluteURL(string(urlStr), false)
+	var urlStr string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(urlStrRaw, &urlStr); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	parsed, err := urlutil.ParseAbsoluteURL(urlStr, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/input/types/http_test.go b/pkg/input/types/http_test.go
index d674c56353..9525c516e0 100644
--- a/pkg/input/types/http_test.go
+++ b/pkg/input/types/http_test.go
@@ -65,3 +65,26 @@ func TestParseHttpRequest(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestUnmarshalJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name           string
+		rawJSONStr     string
+		expectedURLStr string
+	}{
+		{"basic url", `{"url": "example.com"}`, "example.com"},
+		{"basic url with scheme", `{"url": "http://example.com"}`, "http://example.com"},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var rr RequestResponse
+			err := rr.UnmarshalJSON([]byte(tc.rawJSONStr))
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if tc.expectedURLStr != "" {
+				require.Equal(t, rr.URL.String(), tc.expectedURLStr)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}