Despite the Black Cats applying early pressure, Robin Roefs was required to help Granit Xhaka avoid punishment for a lax pass as Yéremy Pino laid the ball off for Jean-Philippe Mateta, but the goalkeeper dived at his feet to thwart him.
Enzo Le Fee saw his free-kick stopped by the Palace wall at the other end before Brian Brobbey made a complete mess of his shot when a fortuitous bounce turned the ball into his path.
Trai Hume then rose well to get his head onto a pinpoint corner delivery but guided it wide, while the Eagles made their own set-piece count shortly after to take the lead on the half-hour mark.
Will Hughes’ initial delivery was unconvincingly punched by Roefs, and Pino pounced on the loose ball to guide it into the top corner with a delicate finish.
Palace’s lead lasted just three minutes, though, as Nordi Mukiele raced up the line and picked out Le Fee for the Frenchman to apply a clinical first-time finish.
Mateta was heavily involved on two separate occasions as his side looked to restore their advantage before the interval, with Tyrick Mitchell heading wide from the striker’s cross before his own emphatic strike was ruled out for offside.
Shortly after the restart, Pino fired a free-kick onto the roof of Roefs’ net from an outrageously tight angle, and Hume had a header saved by Dean Henderson.
Sunderland had plenty of possession as the half progressed without initially doing much more to trouble Henderson, with a contest between Brobbey and Maxence Lacroix proving to be particularly intriguing.
Ultimately, though, it was a battle with Jefferson Lerma that saw the forward score the winner, as he latched onto Noah Sadiki’s pass before hammering a first-time shot in off the crossbar.
The Dutchman then laid the ball off to Hume, whose strike was impressively tipped over by Henderson.
The goalkeeper subsequently made a superb double save to deny Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard late on, yet Sunderland still followed up their penalty shootout win over Everton in the FA Cup with their first victory in six Premier League games to jump up to eighth in the table for now.
The result also took Palace’s miserable run to 10 competitive matches in a row without a win, adding further disappointment to their humiliating loss to Macclesfield, as well as the confirmation that Marc Guehi and Oliver Glasner will leave the club this month and at the end of the season, respectively.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Brian Brobbey (Sunderland)
