A piece of quick thinking by Carl Robinson midway through the second half gave Sunderland the points in a helter-skelter tussle.
The Welsh international took a quick free-kick up to Stephen Elliott, kept running to take the return and guided the ball to the left of Neil Sullivan.
It was no more than Sunderland deserved, although Leeds will point to an early disallowed goal by Brian Deane and a missed penalty from Brett Ormerod as moments that might have earned them at least a point.
It was Ormerod's debut after his loan move from Southampton and when Martin Poom saved his spot-kick it put paid to his hopes of continuing a run of scoring on his debut at each of his clubs.
Sunderland gave a first league start to 19-year-old Chris Brown in the absence of Marcus Stewart with a calf strain. Michael Bridges, who returned to his first club 24 hours ago, was on the bench and managed a brief comeback against another of his former clubs.
It was breathless stuff without much quality. Sunderland looked more impressive going forward but came up against a solid Leeds defence that is growing more impressive by the match.
Leeds were given no room to move. Each time they got the ball they found two or three Sunderland players snapping at their heels and they never really established a rhythm.
They thought they had gone in front in the 11th minute when Deane got a clean header to Danny Pugh's corner but referee Michael Ryan ruled it out. TV replays still left Leeds fans wondering why.
Sunderland's best chance of the first half came when Brown got a touch on Dean Whitehead's driven cross but he only managed to deflect it wide of the far post.
The visitors made a bright start to the second half and it took a brave dive from Sullivan at Elliott's feet to deny them the lead.
It was no surprise when Robinson's enterprise put them in front and it would have been tough on them if Ormerod's spot-kick, given for a foul by Stephen Caldwell on Clarke Carlisle, had gone in.