Kie Server not starting due "JBAS018040: Failed to start context" error in JBoss BRMS 6 server logs

Issue

When starting our server, we see the following error in logs and the kie-server.war application is not started:

ERROR [org.jboss.msc.service.fail] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 53) MSC000001: Failed to start service jboss.web.deployment.default-host./kie-server: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.web.deployment.default-host./kie-server: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in anonymous service: JBAS018040: Failed to start context
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService$1.run(WebDeploymentService.java:99)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at org.jboss.threads.JBossThread.run(JBossThread.java:122) [jboss-threads-2.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:2.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
Caused by: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in anonymous service: JBAS018040: Failed to start context
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService.doStart(WebDeploymentService.java:168)
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService.access$000(WebDeploymentService.java:61)
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService$1.run(WebDeploymentService.java:96)
    ... 6 more

I also see the following error in logs:

ERROR [org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[jboss.web].[default-host].[/kie-server]] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 53) JBWEB000287: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.kie.server.services.Bootstrap: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
    at org.kie.server.services.Bootstrap.contextInitialized(Bootstrap.java:50) [kie-server-services-common-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.contextListenerStart(StandardContext.java:3339) [jbossweb-7.5.12.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.5.12.Final-redhat-1]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:3780) [jbossweb-7.5.12.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.5.12.Final-redhat-1]
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService.doStart(WebDeploymentService.java:163) [jboss-as-web-7.5.6.Final-redhat-2.jar:7.5.6.Final-redhat-2]
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService.access$000(WebDeploymentService.java:61) [jboss-as-web-7.5.6.Final-redhat-2.jar:7.5.6.Final-redhat-2]
    at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.WebDeploymentService$1.run(WebDeploymentService.java:96) [jboss-as-web-7.5.6.Final-redhat-2.jar:7.5.6.Final-redhat-2]
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) [rt.jar:1.8.0_65]
    at org.jboss.threads.JBossThread.run(JBossThread.java:122)
Caused by: com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.StreamException:  : input contained no data
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.XppReader.pullNextEvent(XppReader.java:126) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.AbstractPullReader.readRealEvent(AbstractPullReader.java:148) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.AbstractPullReader.readEvent(AbstractPullReader.java:141) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.AbstractPullReader.move(AbstractPullReader.java:118) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.AbstractPullReader.moveDown(AbstractPullReader.java:103) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.XppReader.<init>(XppReader.java:63) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.AbstractXppDriver.createReader(AbstractXppDriver.java:54) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.AbstractXppDriver.createReader(AbstractXppDriver.java:65) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.AbstractDriver.createReader(AbstractDriver.java:74) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.XStream.fromXML(XStream.java:1131) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.XStream.fromXML(XStream.java:1075) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    at org.kie.server.services.impl.storage.file.KieServerStateFileRepository.load(KieServerStateFileRepository.java:82) [kie-server-services-common-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5]
    at org.kie.server.services.impl.KieServerImpl.<init>(KieServerImpl.java:86) [kie-server-services-common-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5]
    at org.kie.server.services.impl.KieServerLocator.<clinit>(KieServerLocator.java:20) [kie-server-services-common-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5]
    ... 12 more
Caused by: java.io.EOFException: input contained no data
    at org.xmlpull.mxp1.MXParser.fillBuf(MXParser.java:3003) [xpp3_min-1.1.4c.jar:]
    at org.xmlpull.mxp1.MXParser.more(MXParser.java:3046) [xpp3_min-1.1.4c.jar:]
    at org.xmlpull.mxp1.MXParser.parseProlog(MXParser.java:1410) [xpp3_min-1.1.4c.jar:]
    at org.xmlpull.mxp1.MXParser.nextImpl(MXParser.java:1395) [xpp3_min-1.1.4c.jar:]
    at org.xmlpull.mxp1.MXParser.next(MXParser.java:1093) [xpp3_min-1.1.4c.jar:]
    at com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.XppReader.pullNextEvent(XppReader.java:109) [xstream-1.4.7.jar:1.4.7]
    ... 25 more