I don't agree with your theory that someone has gone the "cheap/easy route ... without ... updating the spec". Simply a bug. Anyway:
This might help you:
From a command line
wmic nic where(ConfigManagerErrorCode=22)get Description,Index,NetConnectionID,PNPDeviceID,NetEnabled,ConfigManagerErrorCode
Will return disabled network adapters only. My Wifi adapter is not returned regardless of connection as long as it is enabled so seems to do what you want/need. NetEnabled will show the incorrect status you are seeing. Then parse the text output. A bit clunky but workable.
Will give you the full "dump". On my machine there are all sorts of "virtual" interfaces from various devices that have been plugged in over time.