The Spain international, 31, has not played since mid-October after injuring an Achilles in Arsenal's 6-0 Champions League win over Ludogorets.
Arsenal said his problem "had not progressed" and that he would travel to Sweden next week for surgery.
Cazorla missed seven months of last season with a knee injury.
He has scored two goals in 11 games in all competitions for the Gunners this term.
Arsenal said "surgery is required to the plantaris tendon" in Cazorla's right foot.

Nearly 1.85 million requests for support were made last year, but just over 650,000 people received help.
Councils have been warning for a number of years that a shortage of funding is causing problems.
But the Health and Social Care Information Centre figures shows how difficult it is for people to get help.
Only 144,000 of the requests for help resulted in long-term care, which includes places in care homes or help in the home for tasks such as washing and dressing.
Nearly 220,000 got short-term help, such as rehabilitation after discharge from hospital, and another 300,000 got low-level support such as walking aids and telecare.
The rest either received nothing or were advised to seek help from charities, the NHS or from housing services.
Unlike the NHS, social care is not free and most people will pay something towards the cost of their care, with some covering the entire cost.
Meanwhile, a separate survey of nearly 70,000 people who did get help revealed their experiences of care.
Some 65% said they were extremely or very satisfied with their care and 26% were quite satisfied, but one in 10 was not.
One in 20 did not feel clean or presentable and the same proportion said they did not always get enough food and drink.
Janet Morrison, chief executive of the charity Independent Age, said the figures painted an "alarming picture of services cut back to the bare bones".
"This is a direct result of £4.6bn cuts to social care budgets since 2010 and comes despite an ageing population which is increasing the need for these services," she added.
The figures come after a coalition of health and care groups wrote to the Treasury last month warning that the care sector needed to be protected as the "deepening crisis" was putting people in danger.
The government said its spending plans would be revealed in November, but pointed out that a £5.4bn fund - the Better Care Fund - had been established in April to ensure NHS money was used for services that support council-organised care.
But Izzi Seccombe, of the Local Government Association, said: "We need to see a change to the current perverse funding system which, over the last five years, has seen an increase in funding for the NHS but a decrease in funding for social care.
"This threatens to leave councils struggling to commission the essential support which keeps people out of hospital and living healthier and happier lives in their communities."

World number 127 Figueiredo was struggling at 4-1 down, but then took four frames to leave Ding clinging on.
Ding, ranked fifth in the world, rallied to take the 10th frame and won a tense decider with a break of 74.
The two-time UK Championship winner said: "I missed some easy shots."
The 29-year-old, runner-up at this year's World Championship, added: "He played well and made a few 50 breaks. But at 5-4 down I told myself to carry on and I knew that pressure would come so I was confident in the last two frames."
Barry Hawkins, another former Crucible runner-up, whitewashed Welshman David John 6-0.
Marco Fu saw off Ireland's Josh Boileau 6-2 but the ever-popular Jimmy White was on the wrong end of the same scoreline against Wales' Ryan Day.
White, the winner of 10 ranking events including the 1992 UK Championship, drew level at 2-2 but could not maintain his form after the interval.
The 2011 champion Judd Trump, world number 13 Kyren Wilson, and Scotland's Anthony McGill are all in action in the evening session.
Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla is to have an ankle operation that could rule him out of action for a further three months.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Two-thirds of older and disabled people in England who turn to their local councils for help with care are turned away, figures show.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
China's Ding Junhui survived a first-round scare to beat Brazilian outsider Igor Figueiredo 6-5 in a thrilling UK Championship match at the York Barbican.