I have found this link which seems to be what we are seeing. We have over 1500 PCs that are trying to load the CCM_Client and it's very hit and miss. I have started to find this error is the only thing that appears to be in common.
Windows XP with slipstreamed SP3 The BITS version in the default installation is 6.7.2600.5512. Higher than the version stated in the KB article. The update fails with the error. The version of the file is higher than the version that comes with the update. This explains the error.
Windows XP slipstreamed SP2 The BITS version in the default installation is 6.6.2600.2180. The update succeeds and version after update is 6.7.2600.3143 After the update I applied SP3, the version after that was 6.7.2600.5512
So the error is right it is already in the SP3 and so not required. It looks like SCCM is looking for the 6.7.2600.3143 version.
For Windows installer it is a different story because there is an old version of it in SP3, and updating it is not possible.