If JBoss is started with a java security manager:
-Djava.security.manager ^

an exception is thrown:

java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.util.PropertyPermission * read,write)
at java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(AccessControlContext.java:323)
at java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(AccessController.java:546)
at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(SecurityManager.java:532)
at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPropertiesAccess(SecurityManager.java:1252)
at java.lang.System.getProperties(System.java:582)
at org.jboss.Main.<init>(Main.java:146)
at org.jboss.Main$1.run(Main.java:737)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

this issue occurs even if a policy file with the required permission is provided:
-Djava.security.policy=C:/server.policy

containing:

grant {
permission java.util.PropertyPermission "*", "read,write";
...
};