How to fix Jenkins java.lang.IllegalStateException: An attempt to save the global configuration was made before it was loaded

I upgraded from jenkins 2.219 to 2.272 (latest version as of this writing) and now getting the stack trace below when Jenkins starts.

Jenkins docs says that this happens due to the Configuration as Code plugin and to set the jvm args as -Dio.jenkins.plugins.casc.ConfigurationAsCode.initialDelay=9000. The docs also say to increment the value until the error goes away but so far I'm at 480000 and still getting the error. I also don't see that I have the Configuration as Code plugin installed anyway.

How can this be fixed?

java.lang.IllegalStateException: An attempt to save the global configuration was made before it was loaded
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins.save(Jenkins.java:3379)
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins.saveQuietly(Jenkins.java:3398)
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins.setSecurityRealm(Jenkins.java:2637)
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins$16.run(Jenkins.java:3342)
    at org.jvnet.hudson.reactor.TaskGraphBuilder$TaskImpl.run(TaskGraphBuilder.java:169)
    at org.jvnet.hudson.reactor.Reactor.runTask(Reactor.java:296)
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins$5.runTask(Jenkins.java:1129)
    at org.jvnet.hudson.reactor.Reactor$2.run(Reactor.java:214)
    at org.jvnet.hudson.reactor.Reactor$Node.run(Reactor.java:117)
    at jenkins.security.ImpersonatingExecutorService$1.run(ImpersonatingExecutorService.java:68)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused: org.jvnet.hudson.reactor.ReactorException
    at org.jvnet.hudson.reactor.Reactor.execute(Reactor.java:282)
    at jenkins.InitReactorRunner.run(InitReactorRunner.java:50)
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins.executeReactor(Jenkins.java:1162)
    at jenkins.model.Jenkins.<init>(Jenkins.java:962)
    at hudson.model.Hudson.<init>(Hudson.java:85)
    at hudson.model.Hudson.<init>(Hudson.java:81)
    at hudson.WebAppMain$3.run(WebAppMain.java:295)
Caused: hudson.util.HudsonFailedToLoad
    at hudson.WebAppMain$3.run(WebAppMain.java:312)

I faced the same issue. I have downloaded the jenkins.war , the earlier version (2.263.1) from https://www.jenkins.io/download/ . Stopped the jenkins and replaced the war with my install directory(C:\Program Files\Jenkins). And started the jenkins.This works like a charm.