conda 4.7.12: conda update -n base conda fails - anaconda

Question

I am working with conda version 4.7.12. Running the command conda update -n base conda failed. I am getting the same result when trying to update other environments as well, but the problem seemed to start when this command failed the first time. The output is:
$ conda update -n base conda
Collecting package metadata (current_repodata.json): failed
WARNING conda.exceptions:print_unexpected_error_report(1208): KeyError(u'pkgs_dirs',)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/exceptions.py", line 1206, in print_unexpected_error_report
message_builder.append(get_main_info_str(error_report['conda_info']))
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/cli/main_info.py", line 236, in get_main_info_str
info_dict['_' + key] = ('\n' + 26 * ' ').join(info_dict[key])
KeyError: u'pkgs_dirs'
# >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ERROR REPORT <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/exceptions.py", line 1074, in __call__
return func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/cli/main.py", line 84, in _main
exit_code = do_call(args, p)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/cli/conda_argparse.py", line 82, in do_call
exit_code = getattr(module, func_name)(args, parser)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/cli/main_update.py", line 20, in execute
install(args, parser, 'update')
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/cli/install.py", line 265, in install
should_retry_solve=(_should_retry_unfrozen or repodata_fn != repodata_fns[-1]),
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/solve.py", line 117, in solve_for_transaction
should_retry_solve)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/solve.py", line 158, in solve_for_diff
force_remove, should_retry_solve)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/solve.py", line 262, in solve_final_state
ssc = self._collect_all_metadata(ssc)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/common/io.py", line 88, in decorated
return f(*args, **kwds)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/solve.py", line 415, in _collect_all_metadata
index, r = self._prepare(prepared_specs)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/solve.py", line 1004, in _prepare
self.subdirs, prepared_specs, self._repodata_fn)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/index.py", line 250, in get_reduced_index
_supplement_index_with_system(reduced_index)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/core/index.py", line 155, in _supplement_index_with_system
cuda_version = context.cuda_version
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/_vendor/auxlib/decorators.py", line 268, in new_fget
cache[inner_attname] = func(self)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/common/decorators.py", line 20, in wrapper
return func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/base/context.py", line 770, in cuda_version
return cuda_detect()
File "/home/XXXXXX/miniconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/conda/common/cuda.py", line 19, in cuda_detect
system = platform.system()
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'system'
`$ /home/XXXXXX/miniconda/bin/conda update -n base conda`
environment variables:
conda info could not be constructed.
KeyError(u'pkgs_dirs',)
An unexpected error has occurred. Conda has prepared the above report.