Brown left the Bulls in March and continued his record of scoring against his old clubs with the 55th minute winner which boosted Accrington Stanley's promotion charge.
The Reds opened the scoring in controversial circumstances after nine minutes. Paul Mullin got the ball from a throw although Hereford felt he had handled it and found Ian Craney who squeezed it home for his fourth goal in as many games.
Hereford's first shot on target didn't come until the 20th minute when Craig Stanley stung Darren Randolph's hands with a fierce free-kick but the keeper pushed it out.
And Randolph's elbow kept out an Andrew Ferrell close-range effort on 24 minutes after a strong run by Matt Bailey had opened the defence.
The Bulls finally made the breakthrough one minute after the break when Danny Carey-Bertram finished superbly after Anthony Barry was dispossessed in midfield.
But Brown restored the home side's lead when a Craney corner caused chaos and Brown, with his back to goal, acrobatically rifled the ball into the roof of the net.
Randolph then performed heroics to keep out Bailey and despite late pressure Stanley held on for three vital points.