diff --git a/compiler/sem.nim b/compiler/sem.nim
index ca2c6bc005..f92853d9e3 100644
--- a/compiler/sem.nim
+++ b/compiler/sem.nim
@@ -639,10 +639,10 @@ proc defaultNodeField(c: PContext, a: PNode, aTyp: PType): PNode =
     if child != nil:
       let node = newNode(nkIntLit)
       node.intVal = toInt64(lengthOrd(c.graph.config, aTypSkip))
-      result = semExpr(c, newTree(nkCall, newSymNode(getCompilerProc(c.graph, "nimArrayWith"), a.info),
-        semExprWithType(c, child),
-        node
-          ))
+      result = semExpr(c, newTree(nkCall, newSymNode(getSysSym(c.graph, a.info, "arrayWith"), a.info),
+              semExprWithType(c, child),
+              node
+                ))
       result.typ = aTyp
   elif aTypSkip.kind == tyTuple:
     var hasDefault = false
diff --git a/lib/system.nim b/lib/system.nim
index 949d717b0d..2290ff6f6a 100644
--- a/lib/system.nim
+++ b/lib/system.nim
@@ -2801,7 +2801,10 @@ when notJSnotNims and not defined(nimSeqsV2):
       assert y == "abcgh"
     discard
 
-proc nimArrayWith[T](y: T, size: static int): array[size, T] {.compilerRtl, raises: [].} =
+proc arrayWith*[T](y: T, size: static int): array[size, T] {.raises: [].} =
   ## Creates a new array filled with `y`.
   for i in 0..size-1:
-    result[i] = y
+    when nimvm:
+      result[i] = y
+    else:
+      result[i] = `=dup`(y)
diff --git a/tests/objects/tobject_default_value.nim b/tests/objects/tobject_default_value.nim
index b571965ea1..2d86dce115 100644
--- a/tests/objects/tobject_default_value.nim
+++ b/tests/objects/tobject_default_value.nim
@@ -688,6 +688,20 @@ template main {.dirty.} =
     else:
       testAssignResult()
 
+  block: # bug #22123
+    type Thing = object
+      x: float32 = 1
+
+    type ThingWithArray = object
+        arr: array[256, float32]
+        n: float32 = 1
+
+    type Container = ref object
+        thing: array[5, Thing]
+        thing_with_array: array[5, ThingWithArray]
+
+    var foo = new Container
+    doAssert int(foo.thing[0].x) == 1
 
 static: main()
 main()