Blackburn striker Jason Roberts passed up a glorious opportunity to hand Sam Allardyce a second successive victory.
Roberts stabbed the ball wide of the post with Sunderland goalkeeper Marton Fulop for once beaten two minutes into stoppage-time as two precious points squirmed from Rovers' grasp.
Fulop had earlier tipped a 54th-minute Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick against the post, and then blocked Keith Andrews' effort after the midfielder burst through on the hour.
Ricky Sbragia's men were indebted to their goalkeeper, as well as Roberts, as they misfired at the other end on a frustrating afternoon for a Boxing Day crowd of 44,680 at the Stadium of Light.
Full-back Phil Bardsley came closest to scoring for the Black Cats with a curling 28th-minute shot as in-from strikers Djibril Cisse and Kenwyne Jones were strangely out of sorts.
Having guided his side to a 4-0 victory over West Brom and a 4-1 win at Hull in his last two games, Sbragia was at pains to stress that a repeat was unlikely this time around, and his warning proved well founded during the opening 45 minutes.
The Scot, of course, spent three-and-a-half years working under Allardyce at Bolton and knew whatever else the former Black Cats defender and coach had managed to do in his first week or so at Ewood Park, he would have his team well organised.
What progressive football there was in the first half came from Sunderland, although with Cisse struggling to stay onside and Jones having a battle on his hands with Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen, clear-cut chances were at a premium.
Indeed, the best of them fell to right-back Bardsley with 28 minutes gone after Jones had made his presence felt inside the Rovers penalty area.
The home fans appealed for a penalty when the Trinidad and Tobago international collided with Pedersen as he attempted to challenge Nelsen for a high ball.
However, Bardsley met the rebound and curled a left-footed effort just wide with goalkeeper Paul Robinson at full stretch.
Jones went close himself three minutes later when, after Nelsen had cut out a dangerous Andy Reid cross, Robinson and Samba hesitated and the striker acrobatically hooked the ball over the crossbar.
Jones only just failed to climb high enough to meet another Reid cross deep into stoppage-time at the end of what proved to be a frustrating half for the home side.
For their part, Rovers had lined up with two strikers in an effort to cause Sunderland problems at the other end, but rarely looked like doing so.
Benni McCarthy twice had opportunities to test Fulop with headers, but did not come close to doing so with either.
Rovers had the ball in the net within two minutes of the restart after Samba guided a David Dunn free-kick past the Sunderland goalkeeper.
However, referee Martin Atkinson was quick to spot that he had done so with his hand, chalking off the strike and booking the defender for his pains.
But Fulop was called upon for the first time with 54 minutes gone when, after Brett Emerton had been tripped by Danny Collins on the edge of the box, Pedersen went for goal.
The midfielder got the ball up and down over the defensive wall, but the Sunderland 'keeper got across to turn it one-handed on to the post.
With Blackburn clearly having decided all three points were there for the taking, they committed men to the search for the opening goal, but in the process, opened the game up for the home side.
It was Allardyce's side who almost went ahead on the hour when McCarthy slipped the ball in for midfielder Keith Andrews.
He attempted to lift a shot over the advancing Fulop, but the Hungarian did enough to divert his shot over the bar.
Both managers made changes two minutes later, Sbragia replacing Teemu Taino with Dean Whitehead, while Allardyce introduced veteran Tugay for the injured Dunn.
Cisse almost broke the deadlock with 66 minutes gone when he hammered a right-footed volley just over after Kieran Richardson had got his head to Steed Malbranque's right-wing cross.
Roberts should have won it at the death when he forced his way in on goal but inexplicably fired wide wide of the empty net.