diff --git a/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions.go b/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions.go
index c75959fe..ca3e78da 100644
--- a/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions.go
+++ b/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/google/cel-go/cel"
 	"github.com/google/cel-go/checker/decls"
 	"github.com/google/cel-go/common/types/ref"
+	"github.com/google/cel-go/ext"
 	"github.com/tidwall/gjson"
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/encoding/protojson"
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
@@ -100,6 +101,7 @@ func Compile(expression string, expectedType *cel.Type, opts ...cel.EnvOption) (
 		decls.NewConst(RootDestinationBinding, decls.NewObjectType("google.protobuf.Struct"), nil),
 		decls.NewConst(RootAuthBinding, decls.NewObjectType("google.protobuf.Struct"), nil),
 	)}, opts...)
+	envOpts = append(envOpts, ext.Strings())
 	env, env_err := cel.NewEnv(envOpts...)
 	if env_err != nil {
 		return nil, env_err
diff --git a/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions_test.go b/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions_test.go
index 587ac4cd..5ae7ecbc 100644
--- a/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions_test.go
+++ b/pkg/expressions/cel/expressions_test.go
@@ -41,4 +41,10 @@ func TestPredicate(t *testing.T) {
 	response, err = predicate.Matches(pipelineMock.GetAuthorizationJSON())
 	assert.NilError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, response, true)
+
+	predicate, err = NewPredicate(`"GET".lowerAscii() == "get"`)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	response, err = predicate.Matches("{}")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, response, true)
 }
diff --git a/tests/v1beta3/authconfig.yaml b/tests/v1beta3/authconfig.yaml
index 7e783002..499c043c 100644
--- a/tests/v1beta3/authconfig.yaml
+++ b/tests/v1beta3/authconfig.yaml
@@ -77,10 +77,10 @@ spec:
           Accept:
             value: application/json
         method: GET
-        url: http://ip-location.authorino.svc.cluster.local:3000/{context.request.http.headers.x-forwarded-for.@extract:{"sep":","}}
+        urlExpression: "http://ip-location.authorino.svc.cluster.local:3000/" + request.headers["x-forwarded-for"].split(",")[0]
       cache:
         key:
-          selector: request.http.headers.x-forwarded-for.@extract:{"sep":","}
+          expression: request.headers["x-forwarded-for"].split(",")[0]
     user-info:
       userInfo:
         identitySource: keycloak
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ spec:
               uri:
                 expression: request.path
               scope:
-                selector: request.http.method.@case:lower
+                expression: request.method.lowerAscii()
             signingKeyRefs:
             - name: wristband-signing-key
               algorithm: ES256