Scenario:
When you upgrade an existing BE cluster's AS version from either AS 2.3 or AS 2.4.1 HF2 to 2.4.1 HF3 or 2.4.1 HF4 on startup (recovery) below error is reported. 
<timestamp> +2 <agentname> Fatal [main] - [container.standalone] com.tibco.as.space.ASException: SYS_ERROR (space_not_persisted)
java.lang.RuntimeException: com.tibco.as.space.ASException: SYS_ERROR (space_not_persisted)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.service.dao.impl.tibas.ASControlDao.start(SourceFile:370)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.service.om.impl.AbstractDaoProvider.internalCreate(AbstractDaoProvider.java:367)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.service.om.impl.AbstractDaoProvider.createControlDao(AbstractDaoProvider.java:351)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.service.cluster.system.DefaultClusterIdGenerator.init(DefaultClusterIdGenerator.java:54)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.service.cluster.MultiAgentCluster.init(MultiAgentCluster.java:113)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.session.impl.RuleServiceProviderImpl.initCluster(RuleServiceProviderImpl.java:826)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.session.impl.RuleServiceProviderImpl.configure(RuleServiceProviderImpl.java:307)
    at com.tibco.cep.container.standalone.BEMain.jumpStart(SourceFile:167)
    at com.tibco.cep.container.standalone.BEMain.main(SourceFile:71)
Caused by: com.tibco.as.space.ASException: SYS_ERROR (space_not_persisted)
    at Native.SpaceActor::setPersister(SpaceActor.cpp:1106)
    at Native.Space::setPersister(Space.cpp:813)
    at Native.Space::toSeeder(Space.cpp:577)
    at Native.SpaceManager::postCreateSpace(SpaceManager.cpp:1655)
    at Native.SpaceManager::createSpace(SpaceManager.cpp:1610)
    at Native.SpaceManager::joinSpace(SpaceManager.cpp:1564)
    at Native.Metaspace::createSpace(Metaspace.cpp:1375)
    at Native.API_Metaspace_JoinSpace(ApiMetaspace.cpp:499)
    at Native.Java_com_tibco_as_space_impl_NativeImpl_metaspaceJoinSpace(MetaspaceMessage.cpp:231)
    at com.tibco.as.space.impl.NativeImpl.metaspaceJoinSpace(Native Method)
    at com.tibco.as.space.impl.ASMetaspace.getSpace(ASMetaspace.java:710)
    at com.tibco.cep.as.kit.map.SpaceMapCreator.create(SourceFile:138)
    at com.tibco.cep.runtime.service.dao.impl.tibas.ASControlDao.start(SourceFile:335)
    ... 8 more

Note:
The error is reported only when upgrading existing AS version to 2.4.1 HF3 or 2.4.1 HF4 and project uses in-build cache and persistence ( Shared Nothing or Shared All) is enabled .