diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/ssa/regalloc.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/ssa/regalloc.go
index 7faf2f13feb..bc0a972da46 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/ssa/regalloc.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/ssa/regalloc.go
@@ -1133,12 +1133,15 @@ func (s *regAllocState) regalloc(f *Func) {
 			if v.Op == OpKeepAlive {
 				// Make sure the argument to v is still live here.
 				s.advanceUses(v)
-				vi := &s.values[v.Args[0].ID]
-				if vi.spill != nil {
+				a := v.Args[0]
+				vi := &s.values[a.ID]
+				if vi.regs == 0 && !vi.rematerializeable {
 					// Use the spill location.
-					v.SetArg(0, vi.spill)
+					// This forces later liveness analysis to make the
+					// value live at this point.
+					v.SetArg(0, s.makeSpill(a, b))
 				} else {
-					// No need to keep unspilled values live.
+					// In-register and rematerializeable values are already live.
 					// These are typically rematerializeable constants like nil,
 					// or values of a variable that were modified since the last call.
 					v.Op = OpCopy
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue22458.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue22458.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5c899295771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue22458.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// compile
+
+// Copyright 2017 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// Make sure KeepAlive introduces a use of the spilled variable.
+
+package main
+
+import "runtime"
+
+type node struct {
+        next *node
+}
+
+var x bool
+
+func main() {
+        var head *node
+        for x {
+                head = &node{head}
+        }
+
+        runtime.KeepAlive(head)
+}