diff --git a/core/cautils/scaninfo.go b/core/cautils/scaninfo.go
index d0103f13..235fe0e4 100644
--- a/core/cautils/scaninfo.go
+++ b/core/cautils/scaninfo.go
@@ -321,6 +321,9 @@ func (scanInfo *ScanInfo) getScanningContext(input string) ScanningContext {
 		return ContextCluster
 	}
 
+	// Check if input is a URL (http:// or https://)
+	isURL := strings.HasPrefix(input, "http://") || strings.HasPrefix(input, "https://")
+
 	// git url
 	if _, err := giturl.NewGitURL(input); err == nil {
 		if repo, err := CloneGitRepo(&input); err == nil {
@@ -331,6 +334,16 @@ func (scanInfo *ScanInfo) getScanningContext(input string) ScanningContext {
 				return ContextGitRemote
 			}
 		}
+		// If giturl.NewGitURL succeeded but cloning failed, the input is a git URL
+		// that couldn't be cloned. Don't treat it as a local path.
+		// The clone error was already logged by CloneGitRepo
+		return ContextDir // Return ContextDir to trigger "no files found" error with clear URL context
+	}
+
+	// If it looks like a URL but wasn't recognized as a git URL, still don't treat it as a local path
+	if isURL {
+		logger.L().Error("URL provided but not recognized as a valid git repository", helpers.String("url", input))
+		return ContextDir
 	}
 
 	if !filepath.IsAbs(input) { // parse path
diff --git a/core/cautils/scaninfo_test.go b/core/cautils/scaninfo_test.go
index 3ee367fa..18257af2 100644
--- a/core/cautils/scaninfo_test.go
+++ b/core/cautils/scaninfo_test.go
@@ -88,6 +88,16 @@ func TestGetScanningContext(t *testing.T) {
 			input: os.TempDir(),
 			want:  ContextDir,
 		},
+		{
+			name:  "self-hosted GitLab URL that can't be cloned",
+			input: "https://gitlab.private-domain.com/my-org/my-repo.git",
+			want:  ContextDir, // Should return ContextDir when clone fails, not try to treat as local path
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "http URL that can't be cloned",
+			input: "http://gitlab.example.com/org/repo",
+			want:  ContextDir, // Should return ContextDir when clone fails, not try to treat as local path
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {