Handling a memory fault based on detecting whether a memory pointer was invalidated by a pointer authentication (PA) failure. After an access to a memory pointer causes a memory fault, detecting that the memory pointer was invalidated by a PA failure includes creating a new memory pointer by replacing reserved bits of the memory pointer with a default value, and determining that the new memory pointer corresponds to a memory address that falls within executable memory. This determination includes determining that the memory address is within an executable memory page, determining that a call instruction is stored at a prior memory address that immediately precedes the memory address, and/or determining that the memory address corresponds to a code section of an executable file. The PA failure is handled based on logging the PA failure, terminating the application program, and/or resuming execution at an instruction stored at the memory address.