A data processing apparatus is provided, comprising a processor configured to execute a process, in particular with at least one thread, a memory management unit component configured to access a page table, and a page fault handler configured to handle page faults by triggering a page fault in response to detecting one of a plurality of predefined bit patterns in the page table, and by assigning a different page fault operation for the process, in particular with the at least one thread, to each of the plurality of predefined bit patterns.